Alex Montagu: Five Things We Can Do To Develop Serenity And Support Each Other

Alex Montagu of TranquilLawyer.com: Five Things We Can Do To Develop Serenity And Support Each Other During These Anxious Times

Develop empathy. Try to put yourself in their shoes. Close your eyes and picture yourself in the circumstances that are causing the other person anxiety. See how it feels. Developing empathy will facilitate a helpful response.

As a part of my series about the the things we can do to develop serenity and support each other during anxious times, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alex Montagu.

Alex Montagu is a certified Meditation & Mindfulness Teacher, accredited by the IMMA (International Mindfulness and Meditation Alliance) and CPD from the School of Positive Transformation, as well as the founding partner of New York-based Montagu Law. He created TranquilLawyer.com as a platform with which to guide fellow lawyers and all other professionals in high-stress fields toward more fulfilling lives through meditation and mindfulness practices. His comprehensive studies and unique insight on various Eastern and esoteric philosophies and how they may be practically applied by those in Western cultures into their own lives has proven beneficial to many in the legal profession.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

I went to Princeton University and received my undergraduate degree in 1987. I was always drawn to the legal profession so I studied at Harvard Law School, where I received my JD, and after that got a BA and MA in Law from the University of Cambridge. I started my legal career at Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP in 1991 but eventually decided to start my own firm in 1996 with a focus on intellectual property law, international commercial transactions, and new media commercial and corporate law. Along the way I realized that many in the legal profession, including myself, were burdened by enormous stress after which I decided to take this journey of self discovery through meditation and mindfulness.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

As a young associate starting at a major New York City law firm, I worked with a partner who boasted how he needed little sleep and routinely worked late into the night. He liked to recount his habit of taking red-eye flights from New York to London, work on the flight, attend meetings in London and return the next day and work on the flight back. For him, jet lag was an opportunity to work. About a decade after I had left the firm, I ran into a colleague at a legal conference. We reminisced about our time at that firm, and she mentioned that the partner in question had died. But he wasn’t that old, I said. “I know, but apparently, he was very sick,” she responded.

Of the many challenges I’ve dealt with in my legal career, the most significant has been recognizing these wrong paradigms that modern society normalizes and extols. And that they are, in fact, the very causes of our individual stress and collective distress. I have chosen a different path, aided by practices of meditation and mindfulness outlined in TranquilLawyer.com, a non-commercial website that I started in the hope of helping others break free of the daily stressors endemic in our societal cycles.

What advice would you suggest to your colleagues in your industry to thrive and avoid burnout?

I would suggest they develop Awareness of their True Self through Mindfulness and Meditation practices. I realize, of course, that this is easier said than done. First, you really have to commit to it as a way of life, and most may find it initially difficult, to assume a stillness and filter out the everyday ‘noise’ of our daily agendas. But once you do, I am certain these practices can help anyone avoid burnout and find amazing ways to thrive.

Meditation and mindfulness have been tremendously helpful to me. Before I came to these practices, I had no awareness of my true self. I oscillated between two states of being. First was a general sense of unease — a restlessness and boredom associated with feelings of want, lack, and anxiety, which I had become so accustomed to I didn’t know were even there. The second was fear and despair, which came about when “things went wrong” — when my son became sick, the breakup of an intimate relationship, or challenges at work. After developing a consistent meditation practice, I began to live mindfully and started noticing a change; very slight initially, as time went on, I felt more at peace, happier, and more connected to the world. Where before I would wake up with either a sense of boredom or dread, now I do so with joy.

What advice would you give to other leaders about how to create a fantastic work culture?

For several decades, corporations (and law firms) have been motivated by associating success with the bottom line and having minimal regard for those in the trenches working hard to accomplish corporate financial goals. Fortunately, I believe we are turning a corner in recognizing how important it is to value the working person and that investing in their wellbeing can reap enormous long-term benefits to the company. So, establishing a work culture attuned to their employees’ health and wellbeing and providing programs that support them would be an excellent way to start.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I found Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth” impactful in its compelling account of the dysfunction of the conditioned mind (which Tolle refers to as the “Ego”), outlining the various unconscious patterns that lead to individual and collective distress and offering succinct strategies to overcome Egoic dysfunction and lead a fulfilling life. In many ways, it was a vital resource on my own journey through my mindfulness practices.

Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. Many people have become anxious just from the dramatic jolts of the news cycle. The fears related to the coronavirus pandemic have only heightened a sense of uncertainty, fear, and loneliness. From your experience or research what are five steps that each of us can take to develop serenity during such uncertain times? Can you please share a story or example for each.

The sense of uncertainty, fear, and loneliness was certainly heightened by political turmoil and the pandemic. But these, as Eckhart Tolle has explained, are the defining emotions of the Ego. They have already become so prevalent in modern society that we take them for granted. We try to cover up these feelings by clinging to things outside of us: buying things we think will make us happy, seeking fulfillment in experiences such as travel, restaurants, movies, video games, or social media. Some become addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs. However, any momentary satisfaction will quickly fade and be replaced by even greater feelings of lack, want, fear, and loneliness. By restricting access to these illusory external forms of excitement, quarantine appeared to have exacerbated these negative feelings. Five steps you can take to develop serenity:

1.) Step toward Awareness. Science has shown that the sense of self that our minds create is not what it seems to be. It is a mental construct that begins early in childhood and gradually solidifies, a separate “me” constantly seeking to be fulfilled through external sources. The good news is that your True Self is always there waiting to be uncovered.

Imagine an overcast day that clears to reveal the blue sky. Our work is to see our true nature through the clouds of the egoic self.

2.) Disengage from being chained to the past or the future. The illusory self exists only in the past or the future; i.e., it is regretting some past event or worrying about the future. Mindfulness and meditation practices are designed to bring your attention to the present moment. Whether it’s awareness of the inner body, peaceful abiding meditation, observation of sounds and sights, these practices act as a portal to the True Self.

3.) Get Enough Sleep. There is no underestimating the regenerative values of sleep to mind and body. But if you’re like most adults in the developing world, you probably didn’t get the recommended eight hours last night. Most people pay more attention to their cars than their sleep! But routine lack of sleep (less than six hours a night) has substantial and irreversible adverse physiological and psychological effects, including a lowered immune system, doubling chances of cancer, and disruption of blood sugar levels that increase the risks of heart disease and stroke.

4.) Establish an Exercise routine. Fortunately, most people are already aware that improved mood and sleep quality are some of the numerous benefits of regular physical exercise. I particularly like yoga and Tai-chi because they combine physical exercise with mindfulness. While many in the West regard yoga as gymnastics, the traditional practice of yoga is mindful movement requiring attention to each posture.

5.) Each successive step aids in taking the next, after which the next one you may want to consider is trying to break unhealthy habits. Bad habits form out of not having a clear awareness of self. Awareness interrupts the auto-pilot of impulsive, addictive, or obsessive urges. Mindfulness can provide true freedom of choosing to let them go. Without awareness, these habits will continue and probably worsen over time. It is important to note that one or two sessions of meditation will not do the job. You can gain these benefits from consistent practice and honing your mindfulness.

From your experience or research what are five steps that each of us can take to effectively offer support to those around us who are feeling anxious? Can you explain?

Listen. When you speak with someone, especially those who are feeling anxious, try to listen deeply. Most of the time, instead of giving our full attention to the speaker, we may be thinking ahead to offer advice. Try to be fully present and really hear what they have to say. Listen to the tone and timbre of their voice. Often, being heard, truly heard, helps calm anxiety more than anything you can say.

Help if you can. Anxiety clouds the mind and doesn’t allow the person to see things clearly. Their mind narrows and focuses on the object of anxiety. They cannot imagine the world differently or realize that things change, and their difficulty will likely pass. After allowing them space to express themselves, see if you can help guide them to see reality. But do so very gently. Statements like “there’s no use worrying” are not helpful and can often be counterproductive.

If you can’t help, don’t cause harm. In our haste, we may often lapse into a judgmental stance that will only make someone feel worse. Telling someone what to do may also come across as being preachy.

Develop empathy. Try to put yourself in their shoes. Close your eyes and picture yourself in the circumstances that are causing the other person anxiety. See how it feels. Developing empathy will facilitate a helpful response.

Be present and speak mindfully. Don’t just say what immediately comes to mind or you think will help. It is better to be present and maintain what the Buddha called “noble silence” rather than speaking just to fill a void. Being fully present in silence can be very helpful. Let them know through your gestures (rather than words) that you are there for them. Look at them directly in the eyes, and if circumstances are right, hug them, or hold their hand with compassion.

What are the best resources you would suggest to a person who is feeling anxious?

Anxiety can manifest itself in various extreme ways. The internet has a wealth of resources that can address them specifically and provide short-term immediate relief for acute anxiety and some long-term solutions for chronic anxiety. However, simply feeling anxious is normal. We all feel anxious about something. The key is not to be enslaved by those feelings, not feed them any further, and find detachment. A consistent meditation and mindfulness practice can relieve anxiety. Other resources include a compassionate friend who listens, a guide, a meditation teacher as well as classes and meditation retreats.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

Reinhold Niebuhr’s prayer: “God give me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” I’m a single dad of two very active boys whose twin passions are soccer and the video game Fortnite. I am also a lawyer running a firm that practices in intellectual property and commercial transactions. When the lockdown was enforced, I had to work from my apartment while my sons took their classes online via Zoom. On the work front, our clients’ budgets were frozen, payments were delayed, and new clients were holding off. Like many, I was overwhelmed by the confluence of these events. Then, I was informed one of my sons had not been handing in his homework and received poor grades. I asked myself, “How was I going to manage all this chaos?” The serenity prayer became immediately relevant to my situation. Through meditation and mindfulness, I tried to ascertain what I had control over and, therefore could alter, and accept what I could not change. Every morning, I put each of my boys in a separate room and took away their electronic devices. I also insisted that they read ten pages of a book and learn two new words a day. I wouldn’t give them back their cherished electronics until they followed these guidelines and improved their grades.

I don’t pretend for a moment that this routine was easy to accomplish or that I didn’t get frustrated by their resistance. But my boys closed the semester with relatively decent grades, and they each finished a book and learned about 50 new words. And, my law firm did not collapse. Living by this serenity prayer is a way to be at peace regardless of circumstances. Still, I need a consistent meditation and mindfulness practice to create and maintain such serenity. Otherwise, I default to the same habitual patterns — worry, regret, fretting, anger, frustration, and depression — causing paralysis and profound suffering.

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. 🙂

Launching TranquilLawyer.com is a grassroots movement that can hopefully help people learn about developing awareness of intentions, motivations, emotions, and behaviors through a consistent meditation and mindfulness practice. I want to use this platform to spread this message and the ways to liberate oneself from the prison of the habitual mind’s futile pursuit of wholeness and fulfillment through desire and aversion. The more people share that message, the faster we can further the movement that will hopefully change lives one person at a time.

What is the best way our readers can follow you online?

Visit my website TranquilLawyer.com

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!

Alex Montagu: Five Things We Can Do To Develop Serenity And Support Each Other was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Suzy Karadsheh of The Mediterranean Dish: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A Founder

My biggest piece of advice to my colleagues is to have help in the areas others do better than you. At The Mediterranean Dish, my husband Saba stepped in as President. He wears many hats, overseeing all business-related and technical aspects of the business, in addition to managing the ins and outs of our eCommerce arm. We are better as a team.

As part of my series about the leadership lessons of accomplished business leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Suzy Karadsheh, chef and founder of The Mediterranean Dish, the leading online resource for wholesome and approachable Mediterranean recipes. Born and raised on the shores of the Mediterranean in Port Said, Egypt, Suzy grew up with a wealth of Mediterreanean ingredients and foods visiting the local market with her father and cooking with her mother. Suzy moved to the United States for school and worked in fundraising and public relations before pursuing her true passion of cooking, leading to the creation of The Mediterranean Dish in 2014. Sharing convenient, modern recipes highlighting Mediterranean flavors, The Mediterranean Dish draws inspiration from Suzy’s upbringing, experience in her mother’s vibrant Egyptian kitchen, her mother-in-law’s Levant-style cooking, and travels throughout the Mediterannean region and beyond. Suzy will also be releasing her first cookbook in Spring of 2022 with more than 100 new recipes. Suzy currently lives in Atlanta with her husband and two daughters.

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

Although I didn’t set out to have a career in food, my love for sharing it started at a young age back in the Mediterranean city of Port Said, Egypt. My early years were filled with sweet memories of visiting the local Souq (market) with my father, gathering things from just-caught fish, beautiful plump tomatoes, bunches of fresh parsley, and sticks of cinnamon from the vendors who would greet me by name. We would return home to my mother’s Mediterranean kitchen with our spoils, which is where I learned to cook simply by observing my mom play with flavors.

Community was of paramount importance to our family; my father was always welcoming strangers and friends alike to our dining room table and my mother would make delicious meals with bright flavors: lemony fish, baked chicken, stuffed grape leaves, salads and small plates of big, bold colors. Often, we enjoyed humble meals like falafel, or ful mudammas with a dash of cumin, or messy shawarma sandwiches with a generous drizzle of tahini sauce — all are still some of my favorite things to eat today! The food itself was never the point; it was all about the people around the table.

I brought this love of hospitality and Mediterranean cuisine with me when I moved to the United States at age 17. I pursued my degree in business in Michigan, followed by a career in marketing and fundraising which took me around the world. But everything came full circle after my second daughter was born: I returned to my love of sharing good food with the people I cherish around the table.

The standing joke is that I became an “accidental CEO,” because when my personal blog TheMediterraneanDish.com started back in 2014, it was just a way for me to document recipes and flavors of my Mediterranean heritage for my Michigan-born daughters. I wanted to instill in them an appreciation for their Egyptian and Levantine heritage (their father’s family is from Jordan), and I knew food is a good place to start. But once I started posting my recipes and photos on the blog, I ended up sharing my love for bold Mediterranean flavors and the intrinsically healthy Mediterranean diet with millions of interested readers.

By the fall of 2016, The Mediterranean Dish had served nearly 4 million users. It was because of the prompting of my followers, and that I was helping others live a healthier and delicious life, that I decided to make it my full-time job — more than that, a mission.

Fast forward four more years, and The Mediterranean Dish is now the leading online resource for modern Mediterranean cooking and the Mediterranean lifestyle, having served something like 60 Million users.

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

Today, The Mediterranean Dish is the leading online resource for modern Mediterranean cooking and the Mediterranean lifestyle. In addition to serving up free recipes, articles, and helpful content, TMD is a multifaceted company with a thriving e-commerce arm featuring our own proprietary line of extra virgin olive oils, all-natural and organic spices and seasonings, in addition to classic Mediterranean ingredients like lentils, tahini, and couscous. We love and strive to reach our readers wherever they are, be it via our website or across our engaged social media channels. The goal is to work alongside you in the kitchen, and to help you live a joyful and healthy lifestyle that is sustainable and delicious.

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

Two things: 1) My readers and followers are my number 1 motivators and 2) A keen focus on our niche in Mediterranean cooking and the Mediterranean lifestyle.

My readers and followers have always been the center of what I do. The fact that they take the time to read and cook my recipes, and share them with loved ones is truly motivating.

Every time I am in the kitchen developing a recipe, filming a segment, or writing an article, I am thinking of the people on the other end, I ask myself often: how is a particular recipe going to help make someone’s life better? What can I do to make Mediterranean cooking more attainable and less fussy? How can I walk alongside a beginner cook? How can I encourage someone on their health journey? All of these questions drive me to produce the best and most helpful content I can. I am always grateful to know that I can be a part of someone’s kitchen or that I have made even the smallest of difference in their lives.

Among the many e-mails, I am always reminded of one of the earliest messages I received from a gentleman named Kenneth, a retired attorney; I believe he was from Australia. Kenneth wrote to tell me that his wife of many years had passed one year earlier, and ever since, he had not been able to be in the kitchen without her. He just so happened to stumble upon The Mediterranean Dish on Facebook and began to follow along, eventually he tried his hand at my easy Italian Skillet Chicken. After some time, Kenneth began to have friends over once a week to cook a recipe from my site and share it together. His message did more to motivate me in those early years of blogging than he’ll know.

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

Burn out is a real thing when it comes to running an online business. Content-driven work can be particularly demanding because you are constantly having to produce — from writing to photography, video, and social media. On a given day, I may perform four or five different creative tasks, and it can be exhausting, not to mention all the small business decisions that one might run into.

My biggest piece of advice to my colleagues is to have help in the areas others do better than you. At The Mediterranean Dish, my husband Saba stepped in as President. He wears many hats, overseeing all business-related and technical aspects of the business, in addition to managing the ins and outs of our eCommerce arm. We are better as a team.

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?

The Mediterranean Dish website was my husband Saba’s idea. He encouraged me to pursue it and to grow it into what it is today. His vision, business acumen, and product management experience led to the expansion of our services beyond content development and into a full-faceted company with a thriving e-commerce business.

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

Although millions of users are able to access recipes and resources absolutely for free via my site, The Mediterranean Dish is making a difference in a very real and intimate way, one kitchen and one family at a time.

I mentioned Kenneth, the retired lawyer from Australia. There is also Mike B from a small town in Texas, a novice cook who grew up on a meat-n-potatoes diet and now religiously cooks and eats the Mediterranean way.

Surya who says,“I had to change my way of eating as I have a rare bleeding disorder…I was immensely thankful when I found your website and I use many of your delicious recipes. I follow a Mediterranean diet for the most part and look forward to your blog…”

Lastly, Ashley who wrote to tell me, “Honestly, you are the entire reason I am eating Mediterranean food and I am not just saying that to be nice. I am from the south and we tend to eat very heavy, unhealthy foods. Your newsletters and corresponding recipes have transformed how I cook and the way I see food. Thanks for sharing your passion to the masses. We appreciate you even when you don’t even know it!”

These are just a handful of examples, and daily, I am truly grateful to walk alongside many families, helping them pursue a joyful, healthier journey without giving up flavor.

As a family, charitable giving has always been a priority to my husband and me. But especially during the pandemic we have been able to use our income in support of local charities, food banks, and international causes like World Vision. We are so grateful to have been able to step up our giving because of the success of our business.

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 would start a movement called “Breaking Bread.” I would love to see more and more people who may have differing views gather around the table to share a meal together. To break bread or to share a meal together is one of the most intimate and powerful acts of community.

Suzy Karadsheh of The Mediterranean Dish: 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: Sharon Fox of ‘Stride Consumer Partners’ On The Five Things You Need To…

Women Of The C-Suite: Sharon Fox of ‘Stride Consumer Partners’ On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

Grit. Find a way. Chunk a problem or opportunity or project down to size. Get past “no”. Believe that the impossible is possible (because it was never impossible in the first place but just needed to be approached from a different vantage point).

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

Sharon Fox began her career in brand management on Post®Alpha-Bits® Cereal and subsequently worked in the parenting space across children’s beverages and ice cream brands. Her career led her to Amazon, leading their Diapers.com business post acquisition, where she had the opportunity to work with a team from Amazon and Quidsi committed to creating services and an overall shopping destination that made busy parents’ lives easier. Sharon’s 25+ years of experience attributed to her new board seat at Aden & Anais, Inc. where she was placed in partnership with Women on Boards (WOB) Project, a nonprofit that supports increasing diversity in boards of directors for all consumer companies. Her range of expertise comes from her positions as CMO of two mission-driven brands, Freshly and Melissa & Doug, and serving on the boards of Criteo and Schleich. Fox earned a B.S. in Industrial Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan and her MBA from Harvard Business School.

Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Growing up I always loved math and science and had a real curiosity for how things worked. My father was a Professor of Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and had access to the medical research labs where I sometimes tagged along (and got ideas for the myriad of science fairs that I entered. I am not shy about my nerdy beginnings. I was even a “mathlete” and played “academic games” competitively at both the state and national level). I also had a passion for arts & crafts, photography and music. A bit of an unusual combination. It wasn’t surprising to friends and family when I opted to go to the engineering school at University of Michigan (coming from a long line of doctors and teachers, I was the first to pursue engineering). My ambition was to combine an engineering degree with a business degree and I was fortunate to be able to do both.

I started my career in consulting in the financial services industry and moved to NYC from Ann Arbor upon graduation. The learning curve was incredibly steep and I loved the fast-paced lifestyle. I also learned however during those four years, that I missed using my more creative side. This led me into brand management, which I had discovered through classmates while attending Harvard Business School, because it had a natural combination of analytics and creative applications. Brand management also offered robust hands-on general management training. A win win. I had found my jam and stayed in industry for 13 years working across a myriad of food, beverage and ice cream brands at Kraft and then Unilever.

One July I got a call from a former Kraft colleague about joining Quidi/ Diapers.com post a recent Amazon acquisition. It was an opportunity for me to learn the emerging fast growing eCommerce and direct marketing space as well as work in more of a startup culture. After months of interviews, I decided to take the leap. At the time, I couldn’t have known what the future digital world of commerce would look like, but it was a timely and career-defining moment. I entered a 3-year hyper-learning experience that would allow me to obtain critical new skills and knowledge. Both from the incredibly talented teams at Quidsi but also from Amazon.

Skipping ahead, I became the CMO of two mission-driven brands which had always been a career aspiration — one which was omni-channel and the other direct-to-consumer — that were both founder-led and entrepreneurial. While working in those roles, I was invited to join the board of Criteo. This was the next defining moment as I met and worked alongside the other board members — some of whom were investors — and the Criteo executive team and was energized from the top-down value added strategic work on which we engaged as a board. This experience planted a seed and later led me to move into Private Equity as an Operating Partner in Growth Equity investments focused on consumer products and services.

I am now a founding member of Stride Consumer Partners, a Private Equity firm. Stride brings together a fully integrated team with complementary skills across three vital perspectives to support our brands as they take decisive steps toward delivering on their vision: an investment team with an operator’s mindset; operating partners who are functional experts; and operating partners who are industry specialists and former founders themselves. I partner with and support our portfolio companies and their passionate founders and business leaders as well as our deal teams in conducting diligence of potential new investment opportunities. I truly love what I do. I am thankful for all the people who have mentored, challenged, and supported me along the way.

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

I get to meet a lot of extraordinary founders and business leaders. While there isn’t any one interesting story I want to highlight, it is the combination of their origin stories, their struggles and how they found a way and persisted — refusing to give up in the face of challenging obstacles — that has really interested and inspired me. These myriad stories are each so unique and different that I cannot single out any one of them. It’s not surprising that I am a huge fan of Guy Raz and How I Built This. There is so much to learn from others’ paths.

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 was interviewing at Kraft foods for a full-time position post business school. Kraft conducted “2-on-1” interviews — where two people would interview a candidate at the same time. I was asked to describe a TV campaign or ad for a brand that I didn’t like and why. At the time, there was a long running ad campaign that I personally felt was offensive to professional women that starred a breakthrough female comedian. While it was definitely tongue and cheek, the undertones were insulting to me and I gave this explanation as my example. The more senior of the two interviewers explained when I finished that she had in fact launched the campaign to which I referred several years ago and shared that I was misinterpreting the ad and that it drove a lot of growth for the brand. She was visibly agitated. So, I tried to defuse the situation with a bit of humor and I made a joke that I would just put my foot in my mouth and answered the question again with a different example — but she didn’t crack a smile.

I was quite surprised that I got the offer to join Kraft a few days later. I was convinced that I had ruined my chances by revealing how this campaign made me feel. It was also just bad luck — and a funny coincidence that she has worked on the exact campaign that I selected (note: it wasn’t a food brand). I learned two things. That the world is incredibly small ( ! ) and that if you can’t be yourself and share a different perspective then the role and company culture likely isn’t going to inspire you to do your best 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 about that?

I have been incredibly fortunate for the help, support and mentorship that I have received along the way. I think of this group as my “personal board of directors”. Together they have diverse backgrounds and offer a unique vantage point and perspective. I have found that oftentimes companies who seek to create mentorship programs assume that it’s best if female leaders mentor high potential female employees. The best mentorship can offer diverse perspectives and open leaders’ minds to a different way of problem solving, flexing leadership styles and game-planning possible solutions to challenges. To help leaders walk in someone else’s shoes and to create win-wins within an organization requires diversity of thinking.

For that reason, my board of directors is made up of some powerhouse female leaders and male leaders with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. As well as people with different industry experiences, across different levels of organizations, who live or grew up in different countries, that are also in different phrases of their careers. Lastly, they also work within organizations which are spread across different business life cycles.

These special people in my life know who they are — I am so thankful for their mentorship, patience, and brilliant advice over the years.

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 actually start each day by waking up and exercising. I have found over the years that this is the formula that works best for me in order to have the energy and mindfulness that I seek to start each day. I am a morning person. My definition of active exercise includes both indoor and outdoor activities that include aerobic exercise, weight bearing exercises, stretching and elements of yoga for strength and flexibility. My favorite activity is power walking. I love doing this with family and friends or by myself (rain or shine) wherever I might find myself in the world to see the sights and discover new paths (I travel quite a bit — pre-pandemic of course). When I am inside, I stream a “must watch” series that gets me excited to get going in the morning (I am a media junkie, and have subscriptions to so many services). I am always asking coworkers, friends and family (total strangers too) for recommendations. When I am outside, I often listen to music, a podcast, or an audio book. I find this really supports in-and-out creative thinking. I am most creative when I distract myself from a problem or challenge and come back at it after focusing on something else. I am also a voracious reader of fiction novels. I often read each night to wind down before falling asleep.

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?

Customer obsession is a critical success factor for any business. Not all customers are alike in fact there are millions of clusters of differences amongst needs states and benefits that people seek solutions for each and every day. In order to deliver on a promise or a commitment to underserved groups of people (and by underserved, I mean segments that have a need state that is not being met satisfactorily by currently available products and services), a diverse perspective is required. Diversity drives problem solving. Innovation. Creativity. Understanding. Common ground. Collaboration. Discovery. Studies have shown that diverse teams may take longer to come to a decision, but that often the decision drives a better more effective result.

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.

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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?

Given my career path, I have worked in senior roles across several different organizations. No two were alike. It depends on how an organization is resourced. How it is structured. Is it large or small? Where is the company in its lifecycle? Therefore, I have found that the role of executive is quite fluid. For example, I was the first marketing hire at Melissa & Doug when I joined as their CMO. Some days I was a performance marketing analyst running paid social campaigns or doing keyword analysis and content optimization on Amazon. Other days, I was working to set the vision and mission with the founders and from there a brand strategy that pulled together all of the necessary pieces to create a love brand. Or some days I was a recruiter networking for top talent or a change management consultant.

Today, I think the lines are more blurred than they were when I started my career. I believe that the best executives seek symbiotic relationships. No matter how far along or decorated your career has been to date — you can learn from anyone — up and down or sideways within an organization. Subject matter experts are everywhere. It is critical to walk in others’ shoes and understand towering strengths and pain points within an organization. The most important role of an executive is to remove obstacles that their teams face so that they can accomplish the goals needed to drive critical projects and strategic agendas to fruition. This in turn drives career development and all of the joy and satisfaction that comes from taking something across the finish line.

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

The biggest myth that I would like to dispel is where the best most critical work happens in an organization. You often read about CEOs and executives who have changed the world. The world needs movers and shakers. There is a lot to build, remedy, repair and discover. Most of these executives however would not have been successful without the people within their organizations that make it happen each and every day. Executives need to empower and trust the teams that are driving forward key initiatives. The key job of a leader is to set a vision and a strategy that inspires an organization to greatness and to keep it focused with smart decision making. This means empowering and trusting people at all levels who are independent proactive thinkers that drive hard to deliver on the actions needed for the whole organization to succeed. We can do so much more when we all work together toward a common inspiring North Star. For this reason, the CEO and Executive team must recruit, retain, develop, focus and inspire their organizations. Greatness is most often the achievement of many.

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

When I first became a manager and then a director (or said differently “a leader of leaders”), I was often told that I was “intimidating”. I am 5’2” (on a good day) and the tallest female member of my immediate family (#truth). I was informal, never hierarchical, and always walked the halls and left my door wide open inviting whomever whenever into my office. I was puzzled by this feedback and couldn’t wrap my arms around what I was doing that caused others to feel this way. It really bothered me. It was upsetting.

One of my mentors who was my direct manager at the time sent me to the Center of Creative Leadership where a battery of evaluations are done to increase a leader’s self-awareness. This was one of the greatest gifts of my career. These evaluations showed (among other deep insights) that relative to other female leaders in the database, that I shared many more similar traits with the leadership style of male business leaders. I was also on the extreme edges elsewhere with my approach to creative problem solving and my overall drive for results. I was therefore thought to be “tough but fair” and “set expectations too high”. This interpretation was also in many ways uniquely tied to my gender. My own direct manager and manager’s manager at the time were some of the hardest driving, most successful executives that I have worked with in my career. I was rising to the expectations that they set for my team. They did not struggle with this same misperception. This is where stereotypes and gender norms are incredibly disruptive to some female executives. We should not change our leadership style if it is effective, society and organizations should work to remove bias from their organizations and teach instead acceptance for diverse styles and approaches where we all can learn from each other.

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

Being an Operative Partner can be tricky. You are not on the deal team but you are connected and work closely with teams of financial professionals. Your role is to add equity value by being a helpful resource to the portfolio companies and the internal teams that support them. Therefore, you are a floating resource. Before I took the leap from being an operator to becoming an operating partner, I asked several friends who were in Private Equity at the time the key challenges that my role might entail.

Many offered advice that I would likely miss being an operator, a part of a structured team. While they gave me food for thought, I took the leap anyway for a myriad of other compelling reasons. But I was delighted to uncover that I have not missed being a single entity operator. Personally, I love new challenges and meeting new people and serving many different customer segments — the diversity of issues and industries constantly refreshes. I have found that the energy and oxygen that drives my passion for what I do comes from the people that I work with at Stride Consumer Partners and from all of the portfolio companies that we support. I also have the opportunity to sit on a few boards and advisories which further fuels the breadth of subject matter expertise that I am exposed to and unique business challenges on which I am invited to collaborate. This is the most striking difference that I have experienced.

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?

There is no one profile that can predict whether someone will be a successful executive or leader. But from my own experiences, the following traits have stood out: Passion, Curiosity, and Grit.

Passion. Because if you love what you do and you are motivated by the vision and mission that you work to achieve each day, you are all in on working across an organization to make it happen.

Curiosity. Learning, knowledge attainment and continuous improvement requires a lifetime of curiosity. Being open-minded and curious about what others think is a key skill. The world around us is not static and industries and marketplaces constantly evolve. This has accelerated with the digital revolution. People and talent are unique and being curious about what motivates them (e.g., having a high EQ) is also differentiating.

Grit. Find a way. Chunk a problem or opportunity or project down to size. Get past “no”. Believe that the impossible is possible (because it was never impossible in the first place but just needed to be approached from a different vantage point).

I also would add that being approachable and willing to roll up your sleeves and support your team whether they bring forward positive news or challenging news, is also a key success factor. Strive to build an organization that is transparent, agile, and resilient.

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

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

Not nearly enough. There is so much to do and I have only barely scraped the surface of how I can support making the world a better place. I have tried throughout my career to “pay it forward”. Whether previous colleagues, friends of friends, friends of colleagues, or family members that reach out for advice I always aim to be responsive and helpful however I can. I have spent a decent portion of my career in the food industry and have partnered and volunteered with organizations that aim to donate healthy nourishing foods to families in need. I tragically lost a very dear friend far too young to rare cancers. For over a decade, our close circle of friends aimed to support her legacy by taking part each year to rally around increasing awareness of rare cancers and fundraising. I was recently placed by the WOB Project, a nonprofit that supports increasing diversity in boards of directors for all consumer companies, onto the Aden+ Anais board as an independent director. After being exposed to this non-profit initiative, I immediately asked the founders of WOB Project how I could get involved. Stride Consumer Partners is now a WOB Project private equity partner and I am thrilled to be leading as the point person on this initiative for us as it is near and dear to my heart.

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

90% or more job satisfaction comes from the people that you work alongside. A great company. A great brand. A fab title. Lots of accountability and responsibility. But most of it comes down to your direct supervisor and the teams you interact with every day.

The interview question “where will you be in 5–10 years” … just forgettaboutit ! You never know where each chapter in your career will lead you. If you follow your passion, and where you thrive, you cannot go wrong.

A career is a marathon, not a sprint. You need to train for it, heal when you are injured, and stretch yourself in order to get to your personal finish line.

Networks matter. It’s true. The more people you know, the more you can learn and see around corners, and the faster that you will see and react to trends that can impact your career and personal satisfaction. Active two-way participation cultivates engagement. I once read that your network should mimic a spider web. If a key mentor or connector in your life moves on, your network will still function well and remains intact. And new strands can be added over time.

The world is not fair. If you constantly benchmark yourself to others and measure your success against some arbitrary bar of the moment, you will find yourself constantly dissatisfied.

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? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Every person should be grounded by their own beliefs and experiences. That is part of what makes each of us unique. But at the same time, we all should realize that having an open mind and listening to others whose points of view may differ from our own can go a long way to help us stay informed, aware and compassionate to other differing points of view. After the last four years, I wish we were all inspired to reach across a little bit more. Just baby steps. Use phrases like “tell me more about that” or “what led you to that conclusion” or “what can I read to be more aware and informed on that perspective”. And really listen and seek to understand. The consequences of not doing so can be dire. The upside could unleash limitless potential.

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

“When they go low. We go high” — Michele Obama

In her own words:

“Going low is easy, which is why people go to it. It’s easy to go low. It’s easy to lead by fear. It’s easy to be divisive. It’s easy to make people feel afraid. That’s the easy thing and it’s also the short-term thing,” Obama said.

“We instead need to ensure that we are a positive role model for the next generation and create positive change. If our words are not fixing a problem or at least moving the needle in the right direction, we know we are not going high enough.”

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

Sal Khan of the Khan Academy. I listened to him talk about his journey on a podcast. His mission to “provide a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere” is about as inspiring and game changing as it gets. Democratizing access to knowledge and learning levels the playing field and makes academic mastery accessible to the masses. It’s been translated into dozens of languages and over 100 million people use the platform worldwide each year. It is a non-profit organization. Sal is an inspiration to so many and a modern-day reminder that one person can make a difference.

Women Of The C-Suite: Sharon Fox of ‘Stride Consumer Partners’ On The Five Things You Need To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Dina Orenbach of the Israel Ministry of Tourism: How Extremely Busy Executives Make Time To Be…

Dina Orenbach of the Israel Ministry of Tourism: How Extremely Busy Executives Make Time To Be Great Parents

Include them in our home tasks — There are a lot of things that we need to do at home that take a lot of time. Recently I started showing my son what I do, and he immediately showed an interest in helping. Turned out, he really likes doing some of the chores with me! He brings his little footstool to help me put clothes in the washer, and he enjoys soaping up the frying pans just to name a few tasks we share. Honestly, because he’s so little, it sometimes does make more of a mess than it would otherwise, but I love doing these activities with him. Working together allows me to get these things done while letting my son experience something new with me. I’m guessing that when he’s older it will be even better.

As a part of my series about “How extremely busy executives make time to be great parents” I had the pleasure to interview Dina Orenbach.

Dina Orenbach is the Consul and Director of the Western Region of the United States for the Israel Ministry of Tourism, which is based in Los Angeles. In 2020, despite the challenging world circumstances, she accepted the position of Consul-Director to the Western Region and moved her family across the globe to be on the ground in the effort to help tourism recover in the post-Covid world in this important market for Israel. Having immigrated to Israel as a child, Orenbach has always been passionate about sharing the wonders of her country with the world at large — particularly through tourism.

Israel: Land of Creation

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us your “childhood backstory”?

I was born in Moscow in the late 1980s and within two years my family decided to immigrate to Israel. Back then my parents only spoke Russian, so they spent most of those first years learning Hebrew, whereas my brother and I were able to pick it up very quickly (the joy of learning a language as a kid). Being the child of immigrants, I naturally had a very multicultural upbringing; my parents spoke to us in Russian at home and continued their own cultural traditions, which sometimes led to funny interactions with my classmates. The example that stands out the most in my mind is that we always had a tree for New Year’s (Novi God in Russian), which many of my classmates mistook for a Christmas tree (an easy mistake to make).

I’m far from the only Israeli to grow up in that kind of multicultural home environment, though. Over the decades, Jewish people from different countries all over the world have immigrated to Israel, which has made my home country similar to America with its rich mix of cultures and, most importantly, cuisines. For instance, my best friend’s family was originally from Morocco, and I remember I always loved her mother’s amazing cooking. There is no shortage of spectacular authentic food in Israel both in restaurants and in people’s kitchens.

Now, since I moved to Israel at such a young age and I was going to a local public school, I was very Israeli culturally speaking and very proud of my home. This is why I always loved when we had friends or family come to visit from Russia, because it gave me the chance to show them Israel. These opportunities are undoubtedly the original inspiration that brought me to the job I have now.

Can you share the story about what brought you to this specific point in your career?

After finishing my BA in Management and Communication, all my closest friends started to work in marketing departments at various organizations. I felt that I needed to work with people in a more “down to earth” environment, so I joined a human resources company as a recruiter. I liked the work and atmosphere but kept feeling that it was not actually the path for me. I then set out to land a job in marketing, but it was very important to me that it have some sort of added value to society. It was during this time my husband told me he had seen an online ad from The Israel Ministry of Tourism; they were opening a cadets’ course that would train individuals to work in the marketing administration which promotes tourism to Israel from around the world. I applied and fortunately I got in! I had never considered the public sector before- but this opportunity felt too good to be true! I’d be working in marketing like I wanted, but my focus would be on selling the wonderful product of Israel. I always believed being a tourist in Israel to be a unique experience, and I find helping to bring the wonder of my country to the outside world to be beyond meaningful. Now, 5 years after I started at the Ministry, I find that all my hard work has led me to the role of Consul-Director of our West Coast office in Los Angeles.

Can you tell us a bit more about what your day-to-day schedule looks like?

Ever since we relocated, I’ve been waiting for the time to come when we would have some sort of routine, because apparently being at home most of the time does not organically create one as we’ve all come to learn. For now, I drop off the little one at day care, I go to my desk (in my house) and start by going over emails and writing down what I want to get done that day. I find the ‘working from home’ setup very strange, and I miss the routine of an office with its face-to-face contact with people. Even though the entire team is working remotely, I do strive to talk to them every day either by phone or on Zoom.

For the majority of my day, I focus on my work helping to promote travel to Israel. Currently, since unfortunately travel has not resumed yet, a lot of the work is talking to the local travel industry, tour operators, and agents just to stay in touch for “the day after”. I also update them on what the current situation in Israel is and inquire as to how we can best support their activities and stay top of mind for the time when tourism resumes.

In the afternoon, we pick up the kids from school and play with our 2-year-old and 8-month-old at home. We have our dinner after the little one goes to sleep with the older one being excited to sit at the table with Mom and Dad all on his own. After both kids are asleep and we feel like we managed to get through another day, we try to watch something interesting together and then we go to sleep. Of course, then we do everything all over again the next day.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the core of our discussion. This is probably intuitive to many, but it would be beneficial to spell it out. Based on your experience or research, can you flesh out why not spending time with your children can be detrimental to their development?

To put it plainly, our active presence in our children’s lives is the most basic need they possess, and the only way to reaffirm our commitment to this in their hearts and minds is through our interactions with them. Without it they fail to feel like they have support and guidance, and that they belong to a family unit that will always be a part of their story as their original set of cheerleaders. If we don’t spend enough time with them, they will be shaped much less by us than whatever environment they are in, which is not often for the better. If they don’t have a parent present in their day-to-day experiences, how can they learn to discern between right and wrong, to establish and respect boundaries, or how to structure their time to best achieve their goals? Moreover, they could grow up thinking that they don’t have anyone to turn to when in crisis and retreat into themselves rather than sharing the things that are important for parents and others to know in order to help them.

But I feel I must also comment on how in this, as is the case with so many aspects of life, balance is key. My kids are still very small; however, I still think that even at these young ages it’s good for them to not always be with us. They need to spend time with their peers and different adults in their daycare centers as well as have supervised time at home where they entertain themselves. Independence is priceless, and it’s a skill that needs to be nurtured in children by their parents. When I’m not directly involved, my children have a chance to experience the world on their own, to develop their own opinions and responses, and to determine for themselves the ideal way to deal with a situation according to their values. I think these skills are crucial to making sure children develop into responsible, capable, and principled citizens of this world.

On the flip side, can you give a few reasons or examples about why it is so important to make time to spend with your children?

Our children are the people who are closest to our hearts from the moment we bring them into our lives, and we love them deeply, more than anything in the world. Naturally, this means we want to support them and to raise them in the way we think is right. The only way to guarantee we can accomplish this, though, is by being there for them. By spending time together, my children get tangible examples of the ways I support them, and the confidence this creates in them will ensure they feel self-assured when they eventually face things on their own.

The developmental process for a child is involved, to say the least, and consists of multiple factors. They form their personalities through a mix of their home and exterior environments. Parents can’t always control what happens in the external world that greets their kids, so they must devote themselves to taking the time to teach their children their key values for this will be what they rely on to guide them through their most challenging moments.

Another reason that it’s so important to spend time with them is that at the end of the day- we had them! They are our chosen family and our future, we love them deeply, and I want to enjoy these wonderful people I helped create. It’s as important for them as it is for us to spend time together. Sharing life’s moments with my family gives me perspective when I get caught up with things at work. They help keep me grounded and serve as constant reminders of what is really important in life.

According to this study cited in the Washington Post, the quality of time spent with children is more important than the quantity of time. Can you give a 3–5 stories or examples from your own life about what you do to spend quality time with your children?

Because of the pandemic, we always go home right after day care and play together as a family. For the older one (2 years), we try to have that time consist of lots of games — building blocks, puzzles, playdoh, reading, drawing, etc. We’ve found these kinds of interactive activities lead to the best experiences. Personally, I find when we draw together, I feel like I get to know him better, since I can get a glimpse into his thoughts through what he wants to draw or what he asks me to draw. But we also try to let him have his time alone with toys, where we’re there, but he is playing alone. I call this quality time with himself, which I also believe to be key to his development.

Another bonding activity for us is dinner; we make it a point to try to have all our evening meals together. For now, this happens usually after the little one (8 months) is asleep, but soon he’ll join us as well. Our goal with this is to have a sense of routine family time where we all talk together about whatever comes to mind. Right now, he is learning a lot of new words both in his mother tongue of Hebrew and in the main language of his current home, English, so we try to have him tell a little story or explain how his day went. In addition to linguistics, we also use it as a way to expose him to new food and teach him how to behave when eating different types of cuisine.

During the weekends, the thing I try to do most is to take them somewhere outdoors where they can enjoy nature in the open air- usually a playground or a park. Being outside is great for our whole family. Our toddler can run around to his heart’s content and we do our best try to keep up with him. It’s important to us that our children can experience time with us in a different setting than just the house, even though the pandemic limits the ways in which we can accomplish this.

We all live in a world with many deadlines and incessant demands for our time and attention. That inevitably makes us feel rushed and we may feel that we can’t spare the time to be “fully present” with our children. Can you share with our readers 5 strategies about how we can create more space in our lives in order to give our children more quality attention? Please include examples or stories for each, if you can.

  1. Include them in our home tasks — There are a lot of things that we need to do at home that take a lot of time. Recently I started showing my son what I do, and he immediately showed an interest in helping. Turned out, he really likes doing some of the chores with me! He brings his little footstool to help me put clothes in the washer, and he enjoys soaping up the frying pans just to name a few tasks we share. Honestly, because he’s so little, it sometimes does make more of a mess than it would otherwise, but I love doing these activities with him. Working together allows me to get these things done while letting my son experience something new with me. I’m guessing that when he’s older it will be even better.
  2. Have a clear-cut daily schedule — I know I’m working until 5pm, and I don’t want to go back to the laptop when we come home with the kids from school. Even if it’s not a 9–5 job, when you are not working, shift your attention to the relevant activity (be it family time or any other personal matters). I know it really depends on the organization you are working for, but it’s always best to check if you can have more flexible working hours and absolutely worth it to explain that allowing more flexibility in your schedule will help to improve your work.
  3. Be mindful — I think that sometimes we actually do have time to devote to our kids, but we’re so preoccupied with our various tasks we just interact with them on some type of auto pilot. Personally, I really struggle with this in the morning. When I first wake up, I’m very focused on getting them ready and strategizing all the tasks I need to do during the day. It’s more than possible for me to convert this time into something more quality than functional, but until I am more mindful about the motivations defining my behavior it will simply be a neglected opportunity.
  4. Advance prep– Prepare everything you can in advance, preferably in the evening — food for the kids, clothes, make more food ahead of time and freeze it. Those minutes really add up quickly.
  5. Try not to be too hard on your self — Remember there is always a tradeoff, and that’s ok! I don’t believe that the balance can be perfect and surely not so 100% of the time. WLB (“Work-Life Balance”) has become a very widespread term people use and I think just the constant thought of it is stressful on its own. Sometimes it’s ok if you need to do something in the evening or you need to work later because it’s urgent. If I’m with the kids and worrying about work that’s not good for anyone. It’s imperative to either make yourself not worry (which for me is impossible) or you do what you need to in order to get it off your mind for that moment- even if it means you give your full attention to work during time that you originally planned for family. The thing is that in these digital times I have everything on my phone, so the balance is trickier. Sometimes I find myself sitting with the baby on his mat and trying to answer an email at the same time. It is a process not a test or code to judge yourself by.

How do you define a “good parent”? Can you give an example or story?

There are so many qualities that I think make someone a good parent, but it would be impossible for one person to possess all of them. It’s only natural that some parents will be better at some things and worse at others, since each individual comes to parenthood with different strengths and weaknesses. I think the most important part of being a good parent, though, is supporting your child and being very patient with them. After all, becoming a full-fledged adult is hard! As such, it is essential that parents work to nurture self-confidence in their children, yet at the same time make sure they know that they have a strong and loving home supporting them at all times.

Furthermore, a parent should always strive to set a good example! It’s amazing how children absorb our positive traits and view them, even subconsciously, as something to aspire to have as well. For instance, my own mother is an optimistic person who truly has a zest for life and tries to see the beauty in everything. She always made me stop and look at the pretty little flowers whenever we were strolling around; she constantly takes the time to enrich herself and learn new things. Although this way of being doesn’t come naturally to me, just the way she existed in the universe during my childhood set a good example for me on how to find joy in the simple things. Even as an adult, the behavior I observed still serves to guide me on my own journey of self-improvement in that area of my life.

How do you inspire your child to “dream big”? Can you give an example or story?

I find “dream big” to be a very broad idea that many people define differently. For me, both on a personal level and for my children, I think of it as being able to achieve a desire you have to the fullest extent possible by throwing yourself into the process 100%. As I discussed in my previous answer, I think the best way to inspire my children to live like this is by showing them how it is done through my own actions which sets a positive example for them to follow.

Of course, accomplishing this is not a simple task. It undoubtedly takes a commitment to constantly evolving into a better version of yourself and a way to manage fear or anxiety associated with risk taking. I truly believe the thing that makes us grow most is when we step outside of our comfort zone, which is easier said than done. A few years ago, when I decided to transition my career path out of the private sector and into the public one, I remember all my friends being deeply surprised. At the time, they were all working for private companies and simply couldn’t understand why I would work for a government office to promote tourism when I could make much more money in the private sector. However, for me, doing work that had a positive impact on the world was more important than any salary I could earn elsewhere, and I was willing to do whatever it took to get there professionally.

Later on, when I decided I wanted to work in a more hands-on position in order to have more of an effect on incoming tourism to Israel, I committed all the way and made the huge step to relocate my family to Los Angeles, one of the farthest offices we have from Israel. This was a huge decision, but to me, it was my only option if I were to live out my greatest aspiration. I hope that it ends up being a decision where my kids not only enjoy the experiences they gain from it, but also have a clear and concrete example of what it takes to live out one’s most precious dreams.

How do you, a person who masterfully straddles the worlds of career and family, define “success”?

Success is knowing that I’m in a place that is right for me and that I’m on a path that will make me grow, both as a parent and as a career woman. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I accomplished everything I want to, but just that I know I’m doing what I can to get there — that’s success.

What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a better parent? Can you explain why you like them?

I am part of a lot of social groups online that have to do with parenting. The resources they contain help me a lot with every aspect of it. I feel like every question I have I can get an answer to in these types of forums, or at least a couple of useful opinions and perspectives. I guess you could say I acquire my parenting wisdom straight from the source! It has proven itself indispensable in multiple occasions. Sometimes I ask myself how did our mothers survive without the internet?

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

Marshall McLuhan was one of the first professors and philosophers we studied in my communications courses. In my opinion, a standout quote from him is, “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.” The original intent of this message was to focus on how technology is oriented and how it changes our behavior as a result. I love it and I think that it’s very relevant for humanity, particularly in the past few decades. It is amazing that we live in times where we can see change happening right in front of us and its immediate effect on the world and society. Regardless of it is for better or worse, the key is to have an awareness of these processes that are constantly evolving and adapting.

Of course, technology’s ubiquitous impact our lives makes it very relevant to the world of travel! Travel and the way we experience it is just one of the many things that has changed drastically as a result of technological progress and the many tools we shaped for it. It is always interesting and challenging to see how we can further adapt to make travel better in the everchanging technological sphere.

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. 🙂

I would focus on a movement in education, specifically education that is centered on learning about other cultures and places in the world. Not only studying world history and cultures from the past, but also exploring other cultures that exist now around the globe. Although the world is getting ‘smaller’ in the age of the internet and supposedly people can get all the information they want about other places, cultures, and countries easily, I think that it needs to be a bigger part of early education, so people grow up understanding the great diversity of this planet. It is something that can only serve to further connect us all, making us simultaneously more curious and tolerant of others. Furthermore, in our increasingly globalized workplaces, an international perspective is essential for understanding both one’s coworkers and clientele.

This type of education would also naturally serve as an excellent motivator for travel. It is one thing to read about something but getting to go explore it firsthand is quite another. Israel and so many other destinations are filled with wonderful places, cities, food, history, and nature just waiting to be experienced. If we can instill in people from an early age the courage and interest it takes to go out and be a part of it, ignorance to others will consequently become a notion of the past. It is infinitely harder to hate someone or make someone an “other” if you have met them and seen their unique way of life, which is the grandest goal of those in the travel industry in my opinion.

Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!

Dina Orenbach of the Israel Ministry of Tourism: How Extremely Busy Executives Make Time To Be… 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: Caitlin Iseler of ‘happyly’ On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A…

Women Of The C-Suite: Caitlin Iseler of ‘happyly’ On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

Follow your heart and don’t be afraid to ask for help. There are so many people that have been there, done that, and are genuinely happy to offer guidance.

As a part of our series about strong women leaders, we had the pleasure of interviewing Caitlin Iseler, mom, former technology executive and now, founder of happyly — the family adventure planning app..

Caitlin Iseler, happyly founder and CEO, was born in New York, attended the University of Virginia and was a member of the National & ACC Championship Teams. Caitlin and her family live in Jackson, Wyoming. She is married to Thomas and they have three children that bring them great joy.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! 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?

I spent 15 years working with technology companies advising founders as they built teams and made their dreams a reality. Then, when my daughter was born and I was spending hours researching how we would spend our time together, I thought, there must be a better way. Parents are busy and bringing the best practices from other industries to help families get off their screens and safely into the world became a personal priority.

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

I was laid off from my job in May in the height of COVID’s corporate strain, seemingly the worst time to take a passion project and make it a business, but it was truly meant to be. Without that nudge, I’m not sure I would have had the courage to leave a career I had built over the course of 15 years. I’ve enjoyed more time for my family and the headspace to build something that, we hope, will make a difference for families everywhere.

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’ve made so many, where do I start? I really underestimated how long it takes to build something good. I’m not sure it’s funny but it’s certainly been humbling and it’s taught me so much patience.

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?

Can I list like 50 people? I have been the recipient of so much kindness, in life and while building happyly with a team that blows my mind every day. The moms, dads and grandparents that have contributed to making happyly real are the most incredible people. My dream is to get them all together in person someday in Jackson, WY as a small token of my gratitude for all they have poured into happyly and our community.

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’m obsessed with the Peloton Yoga Anywhere series. I’ve been an inconsistent Peloton spinner but Yoga Anywhere requires no yoga mat or proper attire and only takes 10 minutes. It’s the simple act of remembering to breathe and be present that has made a huge difference for my mental health.

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?

Diversity comes in many different forms and for me, diversity of life experiences is one of the most important criteria for ensuring we are on the right track. Our team consists of people from all over the country with a variety of cultural, academic and socioeconomic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and approaches to faith. What bonds us is the alignment of our values — the only thing we don’t want to be diverse — caring for the world and others, an innate belief in doing the right thing, a commitment to authenticity and leading with love.

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.

My favorite work culture was described as a meritocracy and that’s the kind of culture we have built and continue to develop at happyly. It doesn’t matter your role, where you went to school, your age, whether you are part-time or full-time, the best idea wins and hard work is how respect is earned and maintained.

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?

At 38, I know what I’m good at, I know where I struggle and I’m content being me. Why does this matter? Because as a CEO, it’s my job to surround myself with people that are different from me and that have different strengths to ensure our collective impact is most powerful. Our Co-founder and COO is exceptional with details and compliance, our Editor In Chief and Co-Founder is a wizard with words and detail, our Head of Community Marketing brings discipline regarding the process and our CTO always sees the long term and gets ahead of problems.

For me, I thrive when I can be creative and spend time with people building relationships whether with our team and our growing community or with companies that we have the pleasure of working with. We are blessed with an advisory team that humbles me every day, they are experienced, patient, and wise and it’s been such a gift to have so many diverse perspectives that truly make us the company we are today.

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

You’re expected to be the authority or know everything. This is my second role as a founder and the most important lesson I learned (the hard way) is that I don’t need to know everything. I need to listen to the experts and let each person on our team do their job and be empowered to make decisions.

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

Fundraising has been historically an issue for women executives but we have been really fortunate to have support in this capacity. We’ll see what happens when we start the institutional round in a few weeks, fingers crossed!

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

It’s honestly a dream job. I feel like I’m living my purpose and learning so much every day, working with people I love and respect. I spend more time on pitching our business than I thought but that’s been a great learning experience too!

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?

Evaluating executive talent for my clients for fifteen years was a lot of fun. I think humility and the ability to put things in perspective is easier said than done but is such an important factor for lasting success. My long-time advisor always tells me, “This is a moment in time,” and it’s advice I repeat to myself often.

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

Follow your heart and don’t be afraid to ask for help. There are so many people that have been there, done that, and are genuinely happy to offer guidance.

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

I certainly hope to! We are in our early days but even the smallest bits of positive feedback regarding the benefits of what we’ve built from a parent or company is so gratifying — it means everything to know we’ve made a difference for someone’s family.

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

  1. Building an app is super complicated! We’ve learned over time what a good development partner looks like and we are so fortunate to have found our way to the team at Melt. They are incredibly talented and are making our vision a reality.
  2. Patience is so important — the best version of anything is bound to take time!

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?

You never know what one idea can trigger. Happyly is focused on getting families off their screens and into the world together. It is my dream that raising a generation of children that will have easy access to hiking, playgrounds, and other healthy alternatives to screen time will make them happier and more productive people long term.

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

Building a business is a marathon, not a sprint. I am and have always been all in. I know one speed, fast! That said, I’ve learned that in business, as in life, all good things take time and consistent effort.

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 think Richard Branson is fascinating and I admire his ability to balance creative, solid business principles with caring deeply about the world.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Women Of The C-Suite: Caitlin Iseler of ‘happyly’ 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.

Female Disruptors: Tara Jackson of ‘Empathpreneurs’ On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your…

Female Disruptors: Tara Jackson of ‘Empathpreneurs’ On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

‘Always give 10% of your paycheck away’, this is also known as tithing. Something I have always wanted to do is help and give to others, and is one of the reasons I do what I do. Since day 1 I have given away 10%, even in months which were difficult and I was barely making any money, I always gave something. This has helped me so much and kept me true to why I do what I do, and also I learn that the more I give the more I get back (internally as well as financially).

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tara Jackson.

Tara is a business mentor, color alchemist and wellness coach, and founder of Empathpreneurs®. She is the author of ‘Embodied — A self-care guide for sensitive souls’, and ‘Embodied Business — A guide to grounding and aligning your business with the chakras’. Her work supports empath entrepreneurs with the inner energetics and blocks that can come up, as well as the practical elements of running an online business, done in a way to honor the needs of sensitive souls.

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?

I have had over 20 different jobs in the past 20 years, some have been full time, others part time, I’ve been a freelancer and had temporary positions, then finally my own business, which has evolved too.

These jobs included a number of different roles — I’ve worked in PR, marketing and new business development, HR, business administration and business operations, office management, and event management — all giving me a huge range of experience with companies ranging from solopreneurs to global corporations.

Having worked in all these areas and supporting many people in business, I saw a real need for the inner work to be addressed, when it comes to being successful in business. So many people go into business expecting it to work, but when it comes down to it, they come across inner blocks which stop them from taking action, getting support, creating boundaries, owning their worth, being visible and doing what it takes to make their business a success on their own terms. This is why it’s now the primary focus of my work — once these ‘blocks’ are addressed it’s amazing how fast you can turn something around, and take action to do what you know you are here to do and want to do.

Of course there is an element of practical knowing and you do need to know how to market your business, for example, but it’s the inner work that makes all the difference, especially for the people I work with which are mainly empath entrepreneurs (or empathpreneurs as I like to call them), soulpreneurs, lightworkers and conscious, heart-centred entrepreneurs.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

My work is with empath entrepreneurs (who I believe will change the world) to support them to clear these chakra blocks so that they can step up, speak up, take action and do the incredible work they are here to do, whilst grounding their businesses in ways which are sustainable and practical, and will make a difference to this planet.

I combine energy healing with color and regression therapy (into experiences in this life and others) as well as grounded business advice to make this happen, which is bringing a whole new dimension to business and what it means to be an entrepreneur.

I have found that connecting to past lives in regressions, in particular, and Quantum healing and shifting patterns and behaviours can have radical effects. This modality in itself is definitely not the norm in traditional business!

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’m not sure I’ve made funny mistakes, or at least I can’t think of any. I tried SO hard not to make mistakes actually, as I tried to prove myself as this ‘perfect’ person who had it all together. Needless to say I didn’t learn much from not making mistakes apart from the fact that I felt so uncomfortable in myself as I couldn’t relax and let go. These days I am happy to make mistakes, try out things, put myself out there, speak up for myself and say what I think/feel, as I ALWAYS learn from this in some way.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

Two people stand out the most for me, one is my cousin Rachel O’Connor, who runs a successful travel and lifestyle comms agency in London — Siren Comms. I worked there on and off for a number of years and Rachel taught me to always be open to new ways of working, and to be willing to change what you are offering (or pivot) to meet the demand of your target audience. Rachel also modeled doing business with empathy — being kind and really listening to what others have to say. This is increasingly important in the world we live in today, especially with less in-person human contact and the move to working more online where it’s even easier to feel less connected to one another.

Another is now a close friend, Lara Waldman, who was my first mentor when I began to unpick what was going on under the surface that was stopping me from taking the action I needed to make my business a success in the way I wanted. I learned so much from Lara on how it’s the energy within us that can attract, or repel something, even if we think we want it. Learning how to shift this and clear inner blocks is now fundamental to my work and what makes it unique in the business world. So Lara was a big influence on what I do today, even though I have now made it my own and use different modalities.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

I think disrupting can be a great thing, especially when new ideas or new ways of doing things are brought in that help and support many, or are needed for our evolving times. Look at the way food delivery or taxi services have changed with companies like Uber and Uber Eats. Now, I’m not saying all of their practices are right but they have radicalized these two industries and have been disruptive in a good way for many.

I personally feel the point at which disruptive becomes a ‘not so positive’ thing is when it harms others or the environment, and puts its own interests (usually financial but not always) first, at the expense of others.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

‘Do it your way’ — this is something I had to grow into as I learned so much from others on how they ‘did’ business. It was only when I really started sharing what I wanted to in business that I began to see real success.

It leads on from the first, ‘trusting myself and my intuition’. This again hasn’t always been easy and there have been times when I have had no intuitive guidance (which in itself if guidance). But always listening to my intuition and trusting what has felt right to me, and not what I think I should do, or what others tell me do (which is what I believed initially) has been the best thing for me and always, always takes me on a magical journey in my business.

‘Always give 10% of your paycheck away’, this is also known as tithing. Something I have always wanted to do is help and give to others, and is one of the reasons I do what I do. Since day 1 I have given away 10%, even in months which were difficult and I was barely making any money, I always gave something. This has helped me so much and kept me true to why I do what I do, and also I learn that the more I give the more I get back (internally as well as financially).

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

I am currently organizing an online Business Chakras® Summit, all about aligning your business with the chakras. It will include a number of experts who can help with all parts of a business, and it will bring together the practical and the inner energetic sides.

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

I sometimes find I am not taken as seriously when I suggest ways of working and methods that are outside the norm. Even though I know the effectiveness of these methods I can sometimes be met with skepticism and dismissal. This may be in part to do with the fact that I am bringing something quite alternative to business though, and not because I am a woman.

Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?

Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield Thomas, and indeed her other books too. Denise’s work is all about clearing the inner blocks when it comes to money — charging your worth etc. She was one of my early influences, who taught me that business was more than just the practical parts. Her work made me think about what other areas there might be blocks, and this eventually led to me linking them to the main chakras in the body (with other influences too).

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. 🙂

My work is all about trusting the intuition of our bodies and letting it guide us. When we live in tune with our bodies we are able to show up more, move through areas where we feel stuck and be all we are here to be. The more connected we are to ourselves the more we care for ourselves and give to others also. So I would love connecting with your body to be a daily practice for everyone, and this can mean different things — yes, movement and exercise, but also going into the emotions and feelings and starting to really get to know them as they are all here to help us.

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

One of them is ‘You cannot heal the world until you heal yourself’ — I’m not actually sure who it’s attributed to. This quote is a reminder to look inside and do the work/healing etc that needs to be done there first, even in business. This has been important to me as our outer worlds are a reflection of our inner and by doing the inner healing the outer world really does become a mirror to what’s going on inside. Also by healing the inner wounds I am able to show up SO much more powerfully and resiliently for my mission to help others. If more of us looked inside and started there, healing our own wounds and continuing to show up for ourselves, the world truly would be a kinder and more compassionate place.

How can our readers follow you online?

My Instagram @empathpreneurs is where I have the most fun bringing color alchemy, visualisations and prompts in.

Also my website www.empathpreneurs.org where I have a number of free and paid resources to help you begin to clear your business blocks using color and regression therapy.

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

Female Disruptors: Tara Jackson of ‘Empathpreneurs’ On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Alicia Trautwein of ‘The Mom Kind’ on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help…

Women In Wellness: Alicia Trautwein of ‘The Mom Kind’ on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

Go For Fresh Foods: One of my mother’s many things instilled in me is the love of fresh fruits and vegetables. There is nothing like picking a sweet cherry tomato off the vine. As a society, we accept that fast food and junk food are normal and okay for our diet. When in contrast, there are countless studies to prove that eating fresh food is so much better for us. When fruits take care of our sweet tooth, we eliminate so many junk foods that stand in the way of our health and wellness journey.

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alicia Trautwein.

Alicia Trautwein is an Autism Advocate, Writer, Motivational Speaker, and dedicated mom of four. Alicia’s desire to advocate for Autism comes from her autism diagnosis and that of her three children, niece, and brother. Her life’s mission is to educate on autism acceptance and change the world for future generations of autistic individuals.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

Our story is different for sure. I am married with four amazing kiddos, three of which are autistic. Our youngest two were diagnosed with Autism at 23 months and eight years old. Besides the uniqueness of having two children on the spectrum, they were diagnosed just six weeks apart! Then, one year later, our middle daughter was diagnosed with Autism.

This was a whirlwind that left me asking more questions than the answers I received, such as what is it like parenting girls on the spectrum? What’s it like parenting multiple children on the spectrum? There was plenty of information from the medical field, but not much from the parent’s side. When I realized I would not receive many answers to my questions easily, I decided we would share our journey along the way. That is when www.themomkind.com was created.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

The next several years, I would find myself researching and interviewing parents and doctors all over the country. By doing so, I was able to provide the answers to many questions parents were asking. Being able to share our story and my research, I was able to guide families throughout the world.

After all this, I started my journey of self-discovery, which included receiving an autism diagnosis myself at age 33! I had been misdiagnosed with so many disorders over the years. All of it was because of the lack of awareness of Autism in women.

While I am thankful for my diagnosis, I cannot fathom allowing this lack of awareness regarding Autism and women to continue. I have seen so many women denied the proper health care simply because of their gender. So now, I speak up to help make a change for women of all ages.

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

One of the biggest mistakes I made when I first started was not understanding and appreciating my voice’s strength. As women, we are so often taught that it is impolite to make waves. There’s this belief that our voice doesn’t matter. Once I learned how unique and powerful my voice is, I saw a change in the impact I made on others. Now, I work to help empower other women and girls to embrace their unique stories. We all have the potential to make an impact, no matter our diagnosis. We need to speak up and make waves in our communities.

None of us can 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?

I would not be where I am today without the support of my husband. He has always pushed me forward and told me how important what I am doing is for our girls and me and other women everywhere. No matter who your person is, it is essential to have people in your life that support you. Surround yourself with people who love you and believe in you no matter what makes the difference.

Ok perfect. Now let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

When I started this journey, I hoped to provide hope or inspiration to just one person. If I did that, it would make sharing our story worth it. I could not have imagined then where my journey would have brought me today. I have been able to mentor parents throughout the world to help them navigate the world of Autism. I have supported other adults along their journey of an autism diagnosis and provide a platform for parents to share their journey.

Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.

First, self-care is a must! I cannot even begin to explain the depth of the depression levels I hit during our children’s early years. We had three children, aged five and under, while I was a stay at home mom, and my husband worked sixty-plus hours a week. We did not know why our daughters were struggling, but we did have them with doctors and therapists galore. There would be months and months were the only other adults I saw were the doctors. This would lead to the worst depression and caregiver burnout. No matter what your story is, you have to give yourself some self-love and self-care. Spend ten to fifteen minutes a day with yourself. If that means putting the kids in front of a tv or hiding in the bathroom, that is okay! You have to take time for yourself!

Second, Go For Fresh Foods: One of my mother’s many things instilled in me is the love of fresh fruits and vegetables. There is nothing like picking a sweet cherry tomato off the vine. As a society, we accept that fast food and junk food are normal and okay for our diet. When in contrast, there are countless studies to prove that eating fresh food is so much better for us. When fruits take care of our sweet tooth, we eliminate so many junk foods that stand in the way of our health and wellness journey.

Third, Take Your Vitamins! Even ten years ago, I wouldn’t have even considered taking a daily vitamin little to prescribe specific supplements — one of the best turnarounds in modern medicine. I have personally seen people pushing towards taking the right supplements and vitamins instead of prescriptions. I have peripheral neuropathy that was spearheaded by a b12 deficiency. While the damage is done, the proper implementation of b12 in my medicine regime has stopped my nerve disorder’s progression. I have seen the impact magnesium can make on those deficient in the mineral. Now more than ever, it is essential to make sure you are taking your daily vitamins and stay in contact with your doctor about your individual needs.

Fourth, Exercise Doesn’t mean Gym Membership! One of my biggest misconceptions was that I needed a detailed physical fitness regime to achieve overall wellness. Being physically fit is extremely important for overall health, but that does not mean you need to be a bodybuilder. Go for a walk twice a week, do stretches in your office, find what works for your situation. Getting regular exercise is essential to overall mental and physical health.

Fifth, Get Proper Sleep! One of the hardest things when dealing with severe depression is getting too much sleep. Just like a lack of sleep negatively affects you, so does too much sleep. Getting the proper amount of sleep has been a nemesis of mine for many years. I would continuously get 10–12 hours of sleep, which was way too much! It wasn’t until recently that I finally got a grip on my sleep and began a bedtime/wakeup routine that works for me.

Whether you are sleeping too little or too much, not having a proper bedtime routine can drastically impact your overall health.

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

If I could start a movement that would bring the most change for people’s wellness, it would be practicing self-care. So often, when women practice self-care, they are stigmatized as being selfish. However, self-care is precisely the opposite. By learning to take care of ourselves first, we can better take care of those around us.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

  1. You are your biggest advocate. Do not let someone else’s view affect how you see yourself. What matters is that you are proud of yourself and chasing your dreams instead of someone else’s.
  2. You don’t have to know all the answers. When becoming an expert or influencer, there is this incorrect belief that you have to know everything. Instead, you have to be willing to find the answers and continue to learn.
  3. No is an answer. We all want to take on as many projects as we can handle, but we all have our limits. Whether you are saying no because you do not have the time to commit or you do not want to do it, you have the right to say no.
  4. Not being liked by everyone is okay! You cannot please everyone, and if you are working to make a change, you will not be liked by everyone.
  5. Keep making and surpassing goals. When you don’t set goals, you spend life running in circles, never achieving anything. By setting goals, you stay organized and focused. Each goal you surpass, you build confidence in yourself and your abilities.

Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?

Mental health is the cause closest to my heart. My journey inspired my mental health advocacy, but the journeys shared with me by other women have inspired me to fight for them. Women are drastically ignored in the healthcare field, and that has to change.

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

Follow me on TikTok @alicia.trautwein or @themomkind on all other social platforms!

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Alicia Trautwein of ‘The Mom Kind’ on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Andrew Woods of Duckpin: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO

Take some time to yourself. Think things through. Remember, an emergency is your office building collapsing. Everything else is just another email. Prioritize your work as you see fit. There’s only one you.

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

Andrew Woods is CEO and co-founder of Duckpin, a rapidly growing web and marketing agency headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. When not spending his time building a new breed of “big agency”, Andrew can be found watching Jeopardy with his wife Christina, exploring the great outdoors with his boys Branson and Hendrix, backpacking with friends, or sailing the Chesapeake.

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

I’ve always been a tinkerer and a builder. As a child, I disassembled and reassembled electronics for fun. I loved building things out of junk I found in the garage. In my teens, my tinkering took some shape. I built a home automation system with voice recognition and web-based controls in the early 2000s, well before we had smartphones in our pocket. Then it was cars and sound systems, renovating my home, restoring a sailboat, building a 5,000 gallon koi pond with smart filtration. I like to get my hands dirty, whether it be with building materials or code.

It’s this instinct to build and tinker that brought me to web development, marketing and advertising. This field is a tinkerer’s buffet, so it’s no surprise I ended up here. There is always more to do, more to learn, and the results are never quite the same. It just never gets boring.

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

It was a scary day when my partners and I left our old jobs and started our first day as owners of Duckpin. I remember going to a local restaurant while we all sat quietly together thinking “what the hell did we just do?” not realizing at the time the answer to that question was “make the best decision of our lives”!

But it wasn’t easy and it still isn’t. At the end of the day, there’s a heavy responsibility to owning a business. It starts with supporting yourself and your family. It grows to supporting your employees and their families too. Daily decisions matter. But that’s what makes it so rewarding too.

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

While it didn’t hit shelves until a few years after Duckpin was founded, the book “The Power of Broke” by Daymond John perfectly summed up where that drive comes from. In his book, he describes how feeling like you’re backed into a corner is actually a really resourceful and powerful position to be in.

On day 1, we’re completely broke. Just 3 talented people looking for work, but nobody knows we exist. Success wasn’t going to just land in our laps, we had to figure it out and we had to do it quick.

That’s where the drive came from when we started. I do my best not to ever get too comfortable with our success so that the innovation and resourcefulness doesn’t die off as we grow.

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

Things are going great. We’ve consistently grown the company year over year as well as the size and capabilities of our team. We have ambitious goals for continued growth this year as we forge ahead in our mission to be a bigger, better agency.

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

One of our core values, and a recurring topic here in this interview, is “We Roll Up Our Sleeves.” Duckpin work is unique and hand crafted. It’s not outsourced, ordinary, cheap, regurgitated, or one-size-fits-all. As time goes on, I feel this industry become more of those things, but we roll up our sleeves and we build, we tinker, and we tackle unique and complex challenges on behalf of our customers. We don’t say “well, we haven’t ever done that before.” If it’s within our skillset, we do it.

A great project we finished recently was for a large regional residential construction product distributor that has warehouses all over the Mid-Atlantic. We worked with them to build a custom, real-time TV dashboard that displayed rankings of all the technicians in the company, based on the number of positive reviews the technicians were receiving from customers. The technicians could see recent reviews, who they were “competing” with, and what prize the monthly winner would take home. This project encouraged the technicians to work hard for their customers every day and it put their hard work on display throughout the TVs installed in every warehouse in the region. When the project was done, I thought to myself “how many companies would have turned that down because it wasn’t in their narrow niche of profitability?” Not Duckpin!

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

I’ve worked in this industry now for over 10 years now and I’ve yet to see a true emergency. It’s something I tell myself frequently, and I’ve been known to say to employees and other colleagues in the industry.

And it’s true. Everyone operates today with instant gratification. They feel that their problems are the most pressing in the universe. Guess what… they aren’t. (neither are yours or mine)

Take some time to yourself. Think things through. Remember, an emergency is your office building collapsing. Everything else is just another email. Prioritize your work as you see fit. There’s only one you.

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 dad is my mentor and a constant source of helpful information in business. Most importantly, he leads by example as a fair, honest and hard-working individual. I strive to mimic that in business and in my personal relationships.

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

Absolutely, that is one of the best parts of success! Years ago, inspired by reading Richard Branson’s “Screw It, Let’s Do It”, I suggested we roll out a program for our employees to give back to our community or to causes they were passionate about. Soon after, Duckpin announced its Volunteer Time Off Program that allows each employee 2 paid days per year to volunteer however they’d like.

This program has enabled employees to clean local parks, get pets adopted, build homeless shelters, and more.

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. Every huge problem you face today will feel small in a year.
  2. Don’t write off your success as luck, you earned it.
  3. Set business goals around what you want out of life. Hint: it’s probably not money.
  4. Define core values, then hire against them.
  5. Don’t forget to have fun.

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 think every person should try to live with 100 items or less for 30 days. It’s astonishing how burdened we are, especially as Americans, by our own possessions.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-woods-duckpin/

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

Andrew Woods of Duckpin: 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.

Female Disruptors: Priyanka Murthy of Access79 On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your…

Female Disruptors: Priyanka Murthy of Access79 On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

This piece of advice was not given directly to me but I read it in an article about Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook. She said that the decision whether or not to get married and who you marry is the most important career decision you will ever make. I read this when I was single and it stuck with me. I heeded that advice and married a man who was not only supportive of my career decisions but also my biggest champion and advisor.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Priyanka Murthy.

Priyanka is the CEO and co-founder of Access79, a tech-enabled try-before-you-buy fine jewelry service that helps women discover pieces from today’s most talented independent designers. She’s also the founder of Arya Esha, an award-winning and celebrity-favorite fine jewelry brand, which counts Jennifer Lawrence, Kerry Washington, Jennifer Lopez, and Julia Roberts as fans. Priyanka holds a law and undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Northwestern University. She’s also a former Fulbright Scholar, which took her to Denmark to study European foreign and security policy. Before entrepreneurship chose her, Priyanka was a litigator, specializing in high-stakes and high-value cases. She lives in Florida with her husband Ragu and their almost 4-year-old guy Raaghuv. Though she has settled in Florida, Priyanka has the soul of a nomad — she has traveled to 73 countries and counting. She likes her sandwiches hot and her coffee cold.

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?

I am a lawyer by training. By all accounts, I have an illustrious legal resume — I went to a top-10 law school, was an editor on the Law Review, worked for two renowned federal judges, and litigated at white shoe law firms. The longer I stayed in the law, the more I realized that I loved the law but I didn’t care for the practice of law because I wasn’t building anything. I come from a family of entrepreneurs and always had an interest in jewelry. So, as I was practicing law, I started a side hustle of designing and selling fine jewelry. I was pleasantly surprised to see my pieces sell and to learn I could make a living from this. The idea of being my own boss also appealed to me. So, I quit my day job as a lawyer and launched my own jewelry business. As an outsider in the jewelry industry, I found myself learning a lot and also questioning a lot of the way things are done. I skipped the wholesale route and went direct to the consumer early and this allowed me to learn a lot about my client and what she wanted. I learned that most women do not like the intimidating and drab jewelry shopping experience and were looking for a more relaxed and personalized way to shop. On the supply side, I learned that 80% of the fine jewelry produced were by small independent jewelry designers who didn’t always have the know-how, resources, and temperament to market and sell their jewelry in a way that could earn them a good living from their craft. Based on these learnings, I launched Access79, which is a tech enabled, try-before-you-buy fine jewelry service that matches clients up with a personal jewelry stylist who curates pieces from independent designers based on each client’s individual taste and needs. Then the client can try the pieces for 7 days before she commits to purchase. We are giving independent jewelry designers a sales channel and giving our clients a tailored, convenient, and fun way to discover and purchase unique fine jewelry they wear everyday. I think it is the analytical training that I have had as a lawyer along with the experience in and insight into the jewelry industry that makes me uniquely qualified to build and lead this company.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

We are the only company out there that allows women to try genuine, fine jewelry from the comfort of their own home before committing. We send clients 3 pieces of their choice and they get to live with it and flaunt it for 7 days and have the time and space to make a decision. Moreover, our clients have access to fine jewelry brands from across the world; they are not limited to just one brand when they access our try-before-you-buy experience, and we do not send them ‘fake’ pieces that they can later order in genuine diamonds and gold. Our business model is upending the traditional fine jewelry retail landscape such that consumers are no longer forced to brave intimidating jewelry stores and high-pressure sales, nor do they have to scroll endlessly on an eCommerce site trying to figure out if something is right for them. We are giving our clients the time and space to make an informed decision about their purchase. It’s really empowering and fun for them!

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 tried to recruit jewelry designers to work with us and be part of our platform based solely on their work and without paying attention to whether they believed in the concept and the disruptive nature of what we were doing. It’s kind of funny because in retrospect it is so clear that because we are on a mission to upend the industry, we could never launch and grow this disruptive company without having our designers ‘buy in’ to what we’re doing. I learned that this also extends to other people we worked with — employees and other vendors and contractors. We want to know that they can see the vision and believe in the brand. This was a hard but useful lesson to learn.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

I worked for a brilliant and powerful federal judge straight out of law school. Even though I was so green, she insisted on giving me an exceedingly large amount of responsibility, even when I was nervous about taking on such heady tasks — like recommending sentencing in criminal cases — etc. in her chambers. Her philosophy was one of learning by doing and leading, so she forced me to jump right in. This mode of operation impacted me greatly because it taught me how to take on responsibility quickly and lead from the get go. Although my job was in law, these skills and way of working is translatable to so many jobs, especially entrepreneurship.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

Disrupting an industry when the disruption favors the consumer is almost always positive. So, for example, our try-before-you-buy model of shopping for jewelry from home favors the consumer and makes their experience better and I think that is a good thing, good disruption, even though the old guard of the jewelry industry may be against it (i.e. owners of traditional jewelry stores). Regarding when disruption is not positive, I think it is a matter of nuance. Social media is an example of a form of communication and “gathering” that started off as a positive for the consumer — it connected people. However, over the decades social media companies have not prioritized the privacy of consumers or policed misinformation. So this is an example where disruption is not positive and traditional institutions like branches of our government need to step in and police.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

  1. One of my friends who is a very successful entrepreneur has this mantra (not sure if it’s his quote or he got it from somewhere): “The great are free.” This really resonates with me in my journey as an entrepreneur. I read it to mean that doing great work and prioritizing excellence is the way to feel truly fulfilled in one’s career. I try very hard to live these words by shutting out all the noise and flash and focusing on the work and doing the best I can.
  2. A mentor of mine, who’s a startup investor and runs an accelerator, has a quote that he always shares. In fact, it’s on the wall of the building his accelerator operates out of: Think big, start small. I’ve really embraced this advice. I keep reminding myself of the big picture and the big goal for the company I’m trying to build because it’s easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day grind and details of running a startup. On the flip side, sometimes a big goal — like disrupting the $80B jewelry industry for both the consumer and the designer — can seem really daunting, so it’s helpful to remember that several small steps, i.e. starting small and doing things nimbly and lean fashion will provide us with a sustainable foundation to grow.
  3. This piece of advice was not given directly to me but I read it in an article about Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook. She said that the decision whether or not to get married and who you marry is the most important career decision you will ever make. I read this when I was single and it stuck with me. I heeded that advice and married a man who was not only supportive of my career decisions but also my biggest champion and advisor.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

My goal is for Access79 to be the world’s largest virtual fine jewelry store without ever owning a single brick-and-mortar store. I think our disruptive business model lends itself to achieving this so I intend to double down on that.

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

Convincing both our male and female colleagues that women can run thriving disruptive companies that increase shareholder value and importantly, improve the lives of the consumers via the disruptive endeavors. The traditional notions of disruptive leadership favor a masculine brash and emotional ‘cowboy’ approach. Women, on the other hand, lead in a more collaborative, methodical, and cool-headed way. This lack of pomp and circumstance creates the appearance that women are not as ‘tough’ to lead disruption, but data shows it’s actually the opposite — women leaders, particularly the visionaries who focus on disruption, are better stewards of capital and make better ‘bet the company’ disruptive decisions.

Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?

I’m really inspired by the NPR radio show/segment This I Believe. It was a modern reboot of Edward R Murrow’s show from the 1950s, where notable and everyday people read personal essays about what they believe. These essays, read aloud by the authors, are so poignant, powerful, and instructive. I’m a deeply analytical person — I’m great with logic, data, and science but it’s not natural for me to be spiritual or pay attention to the soul of something. Listening to This I Believe is amazing because a person’s belief system is an amalgamation of what they think in their mind AND feel in their soul. One essay that had an impact on me was from a NASA scientist — he talked about how he got to the heights of his career and was mesmerized by the science of outer space only to be equally mesmerized by love and kindness and even god, things that, to him and other people of science, are inexplicable. His essay implored me to also pay attention to and give credence to the inexplicable, and I think this has made me a better leader and parent.

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. 🙂

I think I would start a movement that would encourage adolescent girls to raise their hands and speak up and actively give their opinions. Somewhere along the educational path, young girls stop raising their hands and stop expressing themselves with gusto and candor and we need to change that. All the data shows that when the women in a society are empowered the entire society is lifted and does better. So, what better place to start than with young women.

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

“Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradicts everything you said to-day.” Ralph Waldo Emerson. This is very relevant in my life as an entrepreneur because the quote espouses the belief that one should stand for something and be passionate about what they believe and what they are doing yet be flexible and humble enough to change their heart and mind and pivot if change is required.

How can our readers follow you online?

@access.79 on Instagram for my company

@aryaesha on Instagram for me personally

www.access79.com

Female Disruptors: Priyanka Murthy of Access79 On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Tiziana Ienna & Tara Gilbert of Zazubean Organic Chocolate On The Three Things…

Female Disruptors: Tiziana Ienna & Tara Gilbert of Zazubean Organic Chocolate On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

Women are not taken quite as seriously as men and perhaps have had historically less access to funding. In the beginning, I think if we were men, people in the industry would have been more receptive to our innovation. However, today there are so many really successful female owned companies in the food industry. While the food industry has a lot of retail owners and buyers that are still mostly men, this too is slowly changing.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tiziana Ienna & Tara Gilbert, creators of Zazubean Organic Chocolate. Tiz & Tara had a passion for chocolate, healthy living & and doing business in a better way. They could not help but wonder “Why isn’t there chocolate for overall wellness?” After researching herbs and antioxidants, the two paired with pharmaceutical professionals and fine chocolatiers- and Zazubean was born. Zazubean bars are infused with high-quality superfoods such as coconut sugar, making it a healthier alternative to sugary chocolate bars.

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

We were on an all-female pedal powered excursion on Galiano Island (Island off of the mainland of BC). Despite the fact that space was limited in our packs, most of us brought our favourite chocolate bars. We found it interesting how many women gravitate towards chocolate at their time of the month, yet interestingly, there wasn’t a chocolate bar designed for this. So, after researching the market and herbs, the Lunatic bar was born.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

We are always trying to create the Unicorn. The ultimate better for you indulgence. It satisfies the cravings, it’s good for you, the planet and the growers

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

We were one of the first to put botanical ingredients into a chocolate. People thought we were crazy, but we were just 10 years earlier. Once we put too much of a herb called Dong quai into our Lunatic chocolate bar. We didn’t realize that Organic ingredients change so much from batch to batch. Had to throw the whole run out, so we learned to expect the unexpected with natural organic ingredients (& to always test them first). Another early story was a week before our first production run, we received a trademark rejection for our registered company name. We were desperate to come up with another name and when I watched my business partner get off her scooter with a rather large helmet on her head it reminded me of the great GAZOO. That’s where the name Zazubean was born. We learned to be more original and do our research before moving forward with investments.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

We had a conversation with the owner of a National food distribution company that took the time to give us business tips on the ins and outs of the food industry. He gave us a lot of information on who would be a good fit as a distributor. He made such an impact, because he schooled us on how the industry works and armed us with the knowledge to help meet the expectations of our future supply chain partners (retailers and wholesalers). We were also connected to a community of like- minded business through Hollyhock ( Social Venture Institute), and a number of mission- based companies that was inspiring for us in shaping the way we moved forward with our values based business model.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

There is no innovation without some failure! In the beginning we launched a functional product that was ahead of the curve in the food industry. While we had a great idea of having functional botanicals in chocolate, we also needed to be able to convince the market it was a better way. Being ahead of the trend takes a lot of money for a small start-up. We recognized this & had to pivot quickly to superfoods in chocolate that was readily accepted in the market vs. our original functional chocolate with efficacy.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

When you are a small company, you do have to make a better product. Being small makes you more nimble and able to take more risks that other larger companies may not be able to take. So, you can be more innovative. An example of this is with the names of our chocolate bars, we were the first chocolate company to give a personality to each bar. We were more creative with our flavours and ingredients and we were one of the first to come out with alternative & lower glycemic sugars in chocolate.

Doing your research and putting yourself out there. You need to identify trends and know your competition. What makes you different? It is the most common question you will get from a retail partner — you need to know your entire competitive landscape. We have been working on no added sugar chocolates for over 4 years and it’s just exploding now. We were aware of this trend and have worked on getting the best tasting low sugar chocolate on the market.

There is something to persistence, but it’s important to be reflective on whether your product is the right fit for the market. If your sales are all of a sudden going down, you need to make a change. It’s telling you something. After the first 2 years in business, because our bars were smaller and too expensive, we realized that people were not willing to pay (at that time) for functional chocolate. We quickly changed manufacturers, increased our format size of our bars and switched to Superfood ingredients and our company has grown each year ever since.

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

Women are not taken quite as seriously as men and perhaps have had historically less access to funding. In the beginning, I think if we were men, people in the industry would have been more receptive to our innovation. However, today there are so many really successful female owned companies in the food industry. While the food industry has a lot of retail owners and buyers that are still mostly men, this too is slowly changing.

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

To inspire conscious purchasing. People vote everyday with their dollars & we believe one of the best ways to change the world is to support only companies that align with your values. For us that means being demonstrably ethical, environmentally friendly & supporting healthy lifestyles while respecting all the people in our supply chain that bring our products to market.

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

We try to live by Brené Brown’s advice to step into the arena, have the courage to take risks, if you fall down, pick yourself up and keep trying.

How can our readers follow you online?

https://www.instagram.com/zazubean/

Female Disruptors: Tiziana Ienna & Tara Gilbert of Zazubean Organic Chocolate On The Three Things… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.