Month: May 2021

Since women tend to take on more of the family responsibilities a critical part of supporting working women long-term is reliable and affordable child and family care. Two, transparency is an important, and often forgotten element to closing pay gaps. Information really is power and giving employees more information about the pay of their colleagues and for similar roles in their industries can help women gain negotiating power and narrow pay gaps over time. Finally, hiring more women at senior leadership positions. We see a steep drop off in women’s representation at senior levels of an organization. Having greater female representation in leadership is key to addressing pay and role disparities throughout the organization.

As part of my series about “the five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap” I had the pleasure of interviewing Nela Richardson, Chief Economist, ADP

Nela Richardson joined ADP as Chief Economist in November of 2020. Nela is the co-head of the ADP Research Institute and leads economic research for ADP. Previously, she was Principal and Investment Strategist at Edward Jones, a financial services firm. In that role, Nela analyzed and interpreted economic trends and financial market conditions and recommended investment strategies. Nela is also the former chief economist at Redfin Corp., a national real estate brokerage and technology company, where she led a team of data scientists, economists and writers to track trends in the housing market. Nela also served as a senior economist for Bloomberg, L.P., covering housing and financial markets, and has held research positions at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and Freddie Mac.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us the “backstory” that brought you to this career path?

My origin story as an economist started my freshman year of university with my first economics class, Econ 101. I was immediately struck by how econ provided tools to make sense of both the wider world and individual decision making. Eventually, I received my PhD in econ, specializing in international finance and intending to teach at a liberal arts college, with the goal of “showing students why they should care about poor countries”.

However, life had other plans and as a new mother I made the decision to stay in DC, where my husband was based and enter the corporate world. I joined Freddie Mac as a housing economist just as the housing market was taking off in 2005, and I had a bird eye view of the housing collapse that was to follow. At Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, I researched the corporate and banking behaviors that led to the Great Recession and worked as a government economist at the Commodity Future Trading Commission right when the organization had just been handed regulatory authority of the multi-trillion dollar derivatives industry, which has been seen as a trigger of the Great Recession at the time. This experience, bookending the financial crisis, shaped how I viewed the economy, the tradeoff between policy and the economy, and how individual decision making at the corporate and household level can affect the global economy.

It also gave me an appreciation for the power of data. I firmly believe that the data and transparency can help people make better and more efficient decisions. That belief had guided me in my career ever since.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?

Early on when I had first joined Redfin as Chief Economist, I was interviewed for an article about economists joining tech firms that was subsequently titled “Chief Economists as the New Marketers”. Though I enjoyed the article immensely, at the time I remember thinking that economists’ roles in reaching the public is not new at all. I think economists in the corporate sector play a key role in providing data-driven insights to the public. I think this helps in all kinds of ways, including creating better economic policy and helping businesses and consumers understand economic tradeoffs. What I like most about my job is breaking down complicated issues in a way that is digestible, easy to understand and actionable for people. If marketing is connecting people with a product — I love that I get to connect people with data and insights that can help them better understand the economy.

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

I remember my first interview for an economist position. The interview was going well, until the hiring manager asked me “What do you like to do for fun?” He said that the job required working with nontechnical colleagues and he wanted to see if I could relate to a wide range of people with diverse interests.

At the time, I had just given birth to a newborn, he was about 5 weeks and I was exhausted between midnight feedings and working on my dissertation. My mind went completely blank and all I could think of to say was “I like to eat and watch tv”. Realizing how boring that sounded, I added “Sometimes I combine the two and watch the Food Network”. The interview ended almost immediately. I had been prepared to go in deep detail about every aspect of my dissertation but, as a young economists and mother, I didn’t know how, or if, to talk about the parts of my life that were most important to me. I learned that it is important to choose and employer and career that can be supportive of your life outside of work.

Ok let’s jump to the main focus of our interview. Even in 2020, women still earn about 81 cents for every dollar a man makes. Can you explain three of the main factors that are causing the wage gap?

First, a larger share of women begin their career at a lower wage compared to men. That initial gap in pay can track women through their entire careers and is hard to overcome. Secondly, incentive pay tends to be lower for women than men. Thirdly, women are overconcentrated in lower pay industries and low pay roles within industries. These trends didn’t create themselves and are rooted in practices that tend to devalue women’s work and performance as compared to men.

Can you share with our readers what your work is doing to help close the gender wage gap?

The mission of the ADP Research Institute is to generate data-driven discoveries about the world of work with the goal of making the world of work better and more productive. We use research to illuminate and track gaps in pay, promotion, and leadership as well as provide insights on the labor market as a whole. ADP’s DataCloud recently rolled out new tools that use data to help businesses in near real time analyze diversity and equity to better allocate staff resources. This a great example for how data and analytics help support better outcomes.

Can you recommend 5 things that need to be done on a broader societal level to close the gender wage gap. Please share a story or example for each.

Women’s labor force participation peaked in 1999 in the US. The pandemic exacerbated this trend of women leaving the workforce. In fact, last September when many schools and daycares were closed across the US, women left the labor force at 4 times the rate of men. The ADP Research Institute surveyed women in 17 countries in October — December of last year. We found that the strain women were feeling because of the pandemic was nearly universal.

Two thirds (67%) of the global workforce say they have been forced to make a compromise between their work and their personal life because of the impact of the pandemic, especially for women and parents. Women are also less likely than men to receive a bonus or pay raise for taking on additional work or changing roles, with the greatest gap in North America, where 62% of men received a bonus or pay raise for changes to their roles, compared to only 50% of women. In terms of the future of work for women post-Covid-19, about half believed employers accommodating the needs of working parents will cease within a year, something likely to weigh heavily in future decisions.

Since women tend to take on more of the family responsibilities a critical part of supporting working women long-term is reliable and affordable child and family care. Two, transparency is an important, and often forgotten element to closing pay gaps. Information really is power and giving employees more information about the pay of their colleagues and for similar roles in their industries can help women gain negotiating power and narrow pay gaps over time. Finally, hiring more women at senior leadership positions. We see a steep drop off in women’s representation at senior levels of an organization. Having greater female representation in leadership is key to addressing pay and role disparities throughout the organization.

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 encourage more corporate apprenticeships targeted at underrepresented workers and communities. One of the key issues in the labor market is the skill mismatch between what employers demand and what employees are able to provide. I think creating apprenticeship programs that hire and train workers in the skills needed for the future can help bridge the skill gap, increase productivity for businesses and lead to a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

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

My favorite “quote” was said to me by oldest son when he was nine. During a very busy morning when I was rushing to get him and his little brother off to school and me to work, he said “Mom, you need to be like water, and let it flow”. I think of those words often when I’m trying to force something to happen or try to control and outcome. Life is unpredictable, that’s what makes it so magnificent. Instead of trying to predict and control everything, I try to make the most of the here and now and “let it flow”.

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

Rosalind Brewer, COO of Walgreens, Gwynne Shotwell, COO Space X, Judith McKenna, CEO Walmart International, Mary Barra, GM CEO, Melinda Gates, Founder Gates Foundation, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, CEO of HCL Technologies and honestly, there are many others. I would love to host a roundtable luncheon or breakfast of female leaders in business on the leading edge of innovation in their various industries to discuss how to provide more opportunities for women and girls and create a more inclusive and equitable global economy.

Nela Richardson of ADP: 5 Things We Need To Do To Close The Gender Wage Gap was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Reagan Hales of Innovation Outpost On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

If you aren’t uncomfortable, you aren’t growing. This was such an impactful lesson from my boss at Texas Tech. It reminds me of a Jeff Bezos quote I recently read, which was “I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate.” That isn’t easy, and that isn’t always what we are told, but it is so important to learn how to be comfortable being uncomfortable in this industry.

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

An Amarillo, Texas, native, Reagan is the Executive Director of Innovation Outpost, a space launched by Amarillo College to foster innovation, collaboration and technology among students, residents and the surrounding business community. Before joining the Innovation Outpost, she served as a long-time executive with the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation leading marking and business development. Her experience ranges from fixed income sales at Merrill Lynch to managing public/private research projects for Texas Tech University to non-profit fundraising at the American Heart Association.

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

My resume spans the map because we moved around quite a bit for my ex-husband’s job. So, I have done a little bit of everything and have gained a lot of valuable experience throughout all of my roles.

What led me to my current job was my experience in economic development at the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation (AEDC). At the AEDC, I tried to find a niche in economic development that wasn’t just about finding the largest manufacturers or organizations to partner with but finding and supporting small companies that were growing quickly.

This led me to build a huge network of people I never expected to find. From there, my network continued to grow, and I began finding people that were ecosystem builders, doing entrepreneurial ecosystem work. Through those individuals and connections, I was exposed to campuses similar to the Innovation Outpost. In Amarillo, Texas, there aren’t a lot of people with the exposure to the industry and the networks that I have, while also understanding Amarillo’s business community. That is why I fit this role of launching the Innovation Outpost. I am so glad I am here and proud to hold this leadership opportunity in the Amarillo community.

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

When people think about transformation, they immediately think of technology and information. They think about hardware and software, but our approach is what is different and disruptive.

Companies have learned that regardless of how intelligent your workforce is or how intuitive the technology may be, you can’t do these massive pivots if you don’t prioritize the people behind the technology and the culture of the company. As we have seen during the pandemic, and will continue to see as we transition post-pandemic, a lot of companies fail to thrive after these forced technological organization changes. We have recognized that without focusing on the people and emotional intelligence of the workforce, technology implementations will not be as successful.

At Innovation Outpost, we address the technical aspects of digital transformation, while also addressing the fundamental and foundational gaps or issues related to human skills. We are uniquely focused on this, while others are focused solely on incubation or product development. We are committed to going a step further to ensure people advance with technology.

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?

When I was 21, I was just starting out at Merrill Lynch doing institutional sized trading. At one point, I accidently put in a buy order when I should have put a sell order on a commodity. In that industry, if you made a mistake and lost money on a trade, you had to cover it out of your own pocket, and I was just starting out and only had about $5 in my bank account.

I was scared to death, and I didn’t want to tell anyone that I’d made such a huge mistake. But I had to tell someone, because I didn’t know how to fix it by myself. So, I told my boss, and by the time we’d corrected it, the market had moved in such a way that we actually made money. My boss had told me I’d just dodged a huge bullet. It was an important lesson in owning your mistakes and asking for help when I didn’t have the answers.

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 think one of the biggest mentors I had was the Vice President of Research when I was at Texas Tech University. He was and still is one of the smartest, hardest working people that I know. He was the type of visionary that could see something into the future and distill it all down to two bullet points, then give you 48 hours to make it happen.

He recruited me to start a new division and immediately threw me into these impossible-seeming situations. I remember feeling lost and completely out of my league, but he taught me that if you aren’t uncomfortable you aren’t growing. If you’re not doing things that stretch you, you will never get to the next horizon. I realized that he was pushing me the same way he pushed himself, and he was tough, but I absolutely respected him for that. Now, I do this with the new people who work with me, because you will take so much more pride on your work if you were able to figure out problems and challenges on your own.

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?

It’s almost impossible to boil it down to either or. I think that any time you disrupt something, there are both positive and negative aspects, no matter how you look at it. What it comes down to is the motivation behind your disruption to determine the true value of the disruption and whether that was worth the negative aspects.

For example, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives are relatively disruptive and largely positive. However, it is the motivation the company has behind these initiatives that reveals the nature of what they are doing. If it is not a genuine attempt to improve your company, but an effort to improve your image, then that is a manipulative motivation, and that initiative will not withstand the test of time.

Another good example is when a company tries to introduce a new technology. There are positives and negatives to these decisions, depending on your perspective, but it all comes back to the company’s motivation. With new technologies, many people feel that the motivation may be to eliminate jobs. However, the motivation may actually be to eliminate medial processes to retrain and reskill the workforce for new opportunities. That, in itself, is a largely positive disruption. It is just important to remember that no matter which way you look at it, disruption will always have a positive and a negative element.

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

If this career isn’t who you are and isn’t what you love, then you need to have the guts to get out. My boss had said this to me when I was at Merrill Lynch at a time when the market was shifting quite a bit. The .com bubble had burst and there was so much change happening around me. I was also at a point where I had to make a decision about committing to this career path and really putting in the work required to move up. I looked around me and saw that the women I worked with were mostly unmarried and most of them did not have children. Even though that worked for them, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted for my life.

My boss was a great leader and a family man, and he pulled me aside and told me that if you don’t absolutely love what you are doing, then you need to do what’s best for you because it can be so easy to get sucked into a career path that isn’t right for you. I quit within 30 days with no real backup plan, just knowing that life is too short to sacrifice everything for a career that you are not passionate about.

If you aren’t uncomfortable, you aren’t growing. This was such an impactful lesson from my boss at Texas Tech. It reminds me of a Jeff Bezos quote I recently read, which was “I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate.” That isn’t easy, and that isn’t always what we are told, but it is so important to learn how to be comfortable being uncomfortable in this industry.

There is no prescribed path or timeline for when you have to accomplish certain things. A good friend of mine that I met through a magazine campaign recently turned 60 years old, and I often turn to him for advice when I am considering taking a new path or opportunity. He reminds me that he is over 60 and has had five different careers and reinvented himself a dozen times, and you can be 60 and get a new job and start on a new path if that’s what feels right to you. This may seem obvious to younger generations, but for many of us, we were taught to expect a linear career progression. But this advice reminds me that you need to give yourself permission to change things along the way, at whatever point in your life.

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

This year, we have some big things planned for the Innovation Outpost in Amarillo, in addition to the launch of our physical space. The programs at the Innovation Outpost exist to educate and support individuals and business leaders across all demographics that are looking to transform their business or career through advanced technologies or digital transformation.

Currently, we are joined by strategist, Todd McLees, for Greater Amarillo 2025 — Living, Learning, and Leading in the Age of Transformation, a series of industry-specific workshops designed to prepare businesses for digital transformation. In 2020, the transformation of the way work accelerated by ten years and has already disrupted how we live, work, and educate. The convergence of intelligent machines and humans in the workplace is inevitable, and although the long-term impacts are still to be determined, the growing demands on every business leader make it clear we will need to shift our thinking toward transformation, innovation, and continuous learning.

These workshops initiate the discussion with business leaders to start unpacking the steps that they need to take to prepare themselves and their workforce for the digital transformation necessary to compete within their industry. We are also offering extended individual workshops with companies to assess and provide change management tools and resources that they may use to implement business transformation within their organization.

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

I think that this varies a lot based on geography. I know when I talk to women in larger metro areas, the tolerance for being disruptive seems different and those communities seem to have a larger appetite for female disruptors. For me, in a smaller community, it can sometimes feel like disruption is met with a lot more skepticism.

I also believe we, as women, take on a greater emotional burden with the people we are managing. If you take a staff or an organization and do something that is disruptive, women tend to worry more about the people that change is affecting and how they will react. I want to kick people out of the nest so they can gain confidence, but I worry about how they are handling things and want to make sure they don’t feel that they are going out on a limb in any way they aren’t comfortable doing. I don’t know many men that share those same concerns about their staff.

This is a hard question for me because I don’t know many female disruptors that I can compare my experience with, which I think is one of the biggest, inherent challenges for female disruptors. Men have many networks and mentorship programs where they can discuss challenges and learn to be effective entrepreneurs, but women don’t have the same institutionalized support systems in place. I had very few female mentors and role models throughout my career, which is an example of a greater generational representation issue that is present across the board.

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

One of the best books I’ve read is “Untamed” by Glennon Doyle. There is one chapter in particular that has stuck with me, which I reference a lot. In this chapter, the author takes her daughter to the zoo where they see a cheetah in a cage performing tricks. The daughter goes on to make several observations about how the cheetah does not belong in the cage but is meant to be free.

It’s a powerful analogy that I think a lot of disruptors and innovators can relate to. We know deep inside that there is this fire in our bellies and at a certain point, you can no longer stay quiet or stay in your corner. After a while, you must break out and go create and do things differently than the way you’ve always known you were meant to.

Another one of my favorites is the podcast “How I Built This” with Guy Ross. He interviews hundreds of people who have started companies or developed products, many of which you immediately recognize, and asks them about their entire journey to success, failures included. Every single story includes some sort of colossal failure or massive emotional breakdown, which is important to see as an entrepreneur. Too often we see shiny success stories, however, none of this happens overnight, and it can take years to accomplish excellence or success.

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 wish there was a way that we could create more financial vehicles for kids to be able to bring ideas and products to market. They have such a unique perspective on things, and they are capable, so why are we so afraid to invest in their ideas? My own girls are athletes, and they are always shopping in the boys’ section for longer shorts and looser clothes because they aren’t comfortable in the tighter, shorter clothes being designed for young girls. They came to me asking to start their own line of athletic clothes to meet that need.

I think having more entrepreneurship programs available to kids would create an opportunity for them to become entrepreneurial at a young age, so it doesn’t become such a huge leap of faith later in life. Kids have so much to offer, but we never ask them what would make them feel valued. I think with the rising rates of depression with young kids and their struggles with self-confidence, a vehicle like this would really help them build confidence and feel like they are contributing something valuable to the world all on their own.

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

My favorite quote is “Ships are safe in the harbor, but that is not what ships are for.” We can be comfortable and avoid getting tossed around in life and work, but that is not what people were created for. Things will get scary and tough, and you may walk away with bruises and scars, and that is fine. We weren’t made to stay comfortable and quiet, and we all need to figure out what it is we are going to contribute. Whatever that may be, you must go out and do it to the fullest of your abilities, and don’t be afraid.

How can our readers follow you online?

The best way to follow me is through the Innovation Outpost social media channels, @InnovationOutpost.

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

Female Disruptors: Reagan Hales of Innovation Outpost 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.

Tell everyone early — I believe I originally heard this on a podcast interview with the founders of Method. When you start a business, you are putting everything on the line. That’s hard for many people, your friends included, to grasp. Some might even be a little judgey. But by telling everyone, you are subjecting yourself to their scrutiny, which in turn, makes you even more motivated to succeed. I thought that was great advice.

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

Erika Lepczyk used her family history of dementia as motivation to launch Memore, a successful direct-to-consumer CPG business offering functional blends that conveniently fill gaps in consumers’ diets with whole food nutrition, which is shown to improve cognition, slow cognitive decline and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s dementia. She is determined to disrupt America’s treat-first healthcare model by educating the masses on the benefits of preventive health measures.

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?

Launching Memore was a little out of character for me to be honest. I have a competitive spirit and have always been highly motivated in my career, but would have never described myself as being entrepreneurial. The turning point for me was learning that less than 2% of all dementia cases were attributed to heredity factors. As someone with a family history of dementia, this was a huge revelation for me. I had always considered my predisposition to the disease unnerving, largely because it felt out of my control. This statistic proved otherwise. I began prioritizing preventive health and sought solutions to support my journey. What I found was a market oversaturated with products touting quick fixes and miracle results. Preventive health was an afterthought. I was determined to change that. I launched Memore to help put long-term health front and center.

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

Memore is dedicated to raising awareness of the preventative measures people can take to sustain long-term cognitive health. It may not sound very disruptive, and in many countries, it is not, but in America we approach health with a treat-first mentality. We are conditioned to seek out solutions that provide immediate benefits and it’s wreaking havoc on our health care system. We can drink more without a hangover, sleep less without feeling tired, and eat poorly without stomach discomfort. We have effectively eliminated the consequences that would otherwise prompt the positive diet and lifestyle changes that improve health. We aim to disrupt this style of thinking.

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?

We are almost too young of a company for me to look fondly on any one of the countless mistakes we have made thus far haha. One mistake that I found particularly funny was with our packaging. Our box insert, designed to hold our bottle in place, was out of spec. The opening wasn’t wide enough for our bottle to fit inside. And although it had arrived a few months prior, I didn’t even realize it until the day before we launched. So, we ended up staying up all night using a box cutter to widen the opening of each individual insert. We now triple check everything we receive from vendors the minute they arrive.

Not necessarily a mistake, but something I now find funny that I didn’t at the time was when we converted our spare bedroom into a makeshift lab during COVID. The Research Campus, where we were developing the product, was temporarily closed and we just couldn’t afford another delay. We packed the room with lab equipment and product samples and continued making progress on the product. At the time, I hated it because the room was unusable for the better part of 6 months. Today, I look back on it fondly because that’s where our final product formulas were developed. I learned that when problems arise, you have to be resourceful!

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 wouldn’t be where we are today without the help of the entire team at the North Carolina Food Innovation Lab; specifically Dr. Bill Aimutis, CIndy Calhoun and Joe Hildenbrand. We brought them an idea for a product and they helped us turn it into a reality. 99% of food company’s fail, and because of that, it’s hard for any unknown brand entering the industry to get any amount of respect. Ingredient suppliers for example, won’t give you the time of day. They gave us added legitimacy, helping us identify and form relationships with suppliers, educating us on all the testing and food safety requirements, and mapping out the production process, just to name a few.

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?

When industry disruption occurs, I think it’s very rarely an all-positive outcome. There always seems to be tradeoffs. Take for example, the disruption of the taxi industry. Ride hailing firms dramatically improved access to affordable transportation. They did so, however, at the expense of small businesses and in many cases, the drivers themselves. Industrial farming greatly improved the accessibility and affordability of food, but at the expense of small farms, and, many would argue, the quality of the food itself. I think any time “disruption” results in the mass consolidation of industry participants, the outcome is generally more negative than positive, but that’s probably my small business bias showing through!

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

Tell everyone early — I believe I originally heard this on a podcast interview with the founders of Method. When you start a business, you are putting everything on the line. That’s hard for many people, your friends included, to grasp. Some might even be a little judgey. But by telling everyone, you are subjecting yourself to their scrutiny, which in turn, makes you even more motivated to succeed. I thought that was great advice.

Trust the process. This was tremendous advice given to me by our branding agency. I’ve applied it every step of the way. Even though I am not a professional brander, I found myself wanting to control the entire branding process. They asked me to trust them and the process, and the result was incredible. It’s a great lesson for any small business owner or early-stage startup because you can’t do everything yourself. Sometimes you need to let go and let the experts do what they do best.

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

When I think of what really defines Memore, it’s our preventive approach to cognitive health. I want to establish the brand as the authority on preventive health, and we do so by finding new ways to use whole foods to address a variety of chronic health conditions, like heart disease and diabetes.

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

Things are definitely changing for the better, but I would say that access to capital is far less for women than it is for men. I think this is partially due to the fact that the financial industry in general is still heavily male dominant.

I also think it’s much more challenging for women with families to pursue entrepreneurship than it is for their male counterparts. Even as family dynamics are changing, the expectation is still that women are supposed to be the primary caregivers. Because of that, we take on an unequal amount of the responsibilities, further straining our time.

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

Diet for The Mind by Martha Clare Morris made a huge impact on my thinking. She was really the first to identify the connection between food and brain health. Her book, which summarizes much of her research, was my primary inspiration for formulating Memore. The main research finding was that the MIND Diet was shown to be effective in slowing cognitive decline and reducing Alzheimer’s risk by as much as 53%.

I also loved Blue Zones by Dan Buettner. Most books about diet or lifestyle are highly opinionated because diet culture is extremely competitive. The Blue Zone books are anything but. The author finds areas with a high population of centenarians (people over 100) and dives deeply into their lifestyles to determine why. I found the lives of so many of those centenarians to be so inspirational. It really motivated me to prioritize the things in life that I value most like family, positive social interaction, spending time outdoors, and traveling.

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 inspire a preventive health movement. We spend over one trillion dollars a year on preventable chronic health conditions in America and it is threatening to bankrupt our health care system. Yet the effects extend well beyond the financial implications and onto the families of the patients themselves, many of whom experience failing health as a result of their caregiving efforts. It’s a vicious cycle and one that I would love to break. There is an obvious case to be made for getting registered dietitians more involved in our healthcare system.

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

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style

Maya Angelou

I aspire to thrive in all things I do. Sometimes I will feel like I’m not thriving and I’m merely surviving, but I try to take every lesson, every opportunity and every encounter in life as a learning experience. I’ve shifted my mindset to think more positively in the past couple of years and am trying to give myself more grace. While on this ride, I’m just trying to enjoy it! With a little and a lot of passion, compassion, humor, and definitely some style.

How can our readers follow you online?

Instagram: @erikalepcheck

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/erikalepczyk/

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

Female Disruptors: Erin Nobles, Lisa Sigman and Tania Shah of ‘In The Know Legal’ On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

…“Progress doesn’t always look like progress.” This is a mantra that I find myself repeating whenever I start a new project. Because sometimes we expect our work to yield immediate success and we kind of try to blow past the “messy” stage. But the reality is we have to be willing to sit in the mess for a little while.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Erin Nobles, Lisa Sigman and Tania Shah, founders of In The Know Legal.

Erin: Erin left a successful career in litigation and co-founded her law firm focusing on proactive personal legal planning after her youngest child was born with a serious chronic medical condition. Her passion is to help women and families ensure that they have a solid personal legal foundation in place no matter what the future might hold. Now she brings her years of legal experience and personal perspective to In The Know Legal as the creator of the personal legal protection materials and education.

Lisa: Lisa is a single mom and proud member of Gen X. Independence and the ability to provide for her children is her top priority. Representing small businesses for over 15 years, Lisa’s passion is to help women entrepreneurs who are starting and growing their businesses build a solid legal foundation, so they can feel empowered to focus on their strengths and passions, while building the life they want on their terms.

Tania: Tania started her first company over 20 years ago, finding a niche in the legal tutoring market and establishing LawTutors, LLC. Since then, Tania has started her own business law firm for mom and woman-owned businesses, has become a full time law professor, and has published numerous books with her legal publishing company. Two decades since starting her first company, Tania is super lucky to have teamed up with Lisa (who thought of the In The Know Legal concept) and Erin (who provides the much needed personal legal planning side to women-owned businesses) to fill another much needed niche for our mom and women-owned businesses.

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?

Lisa: I completely credit my being a lawyer to Reese Witherspoon. I graduated college with a degree in Radiologic Technology and with an X-Ray technologist license. I transitioned to working as an MRI technologist shortly after my first job. A few years into the profession and I was questioning if it was really where I wanted to be. I caught Legally Blonde in the theater with a girlfriend (and fellow MRI tech) one night, and as we walked out after the show she said, “Did you know you can go to law school part time at night?” I figured if Elle Woods could get into Harvard, I could get into law school! We agreed to start studying for the LSAT. My friend quickly decided it wasn’t for her, but I figured I would take the LSAT and see how I do (I did well). Then it was, I will apply and see if I get in (I did). Then, I will go for a year and see if I like it (I loved it!). My timing for law school wasn’t ideal — one of the largest firms in Boston broke up right before I graduated and the landscape for getting a job wasn’t great — new graduates were competing with lateral hires with a book of business. So, I decided to risk it and just put a shingle and start my own firm. It was quite the education — running a law firm out of my one bedroom apartment on a zero budget. But it instilled in me an appreciation for what it takes to start and run a new business — and opened my eyes to the pain points all new businesses experience. I still keep that perspective in mind when working with clients in my law firm, and with the creation of In The Know Legal.

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

Lisa: When someone talks about the law and lawyers, I think the image that is often conjured up is one of mahogany desks and leather books, unreachable attorneys, billable hours and large retainers. It’s very static and unmoving. The law can be very slow to embrace technology; something like In The Know Legal wouldn’t have even been possible when I started practicing. But as businesses change, and how business is conducted changes, the way lawyers practice and provide legal services has to change. By offering online templates, we are able to remove many of the barriers that stand between a small business owner and the legal documents they need: time, money, confusion.

Unlike a law firm, In The Know Legal is available 24/7, and the one-time purchase price for the templates is a fraction of what a lawyer will charge. And we carefully designed the website, and the process of picking the right template or package, so that the customer doesn’t even need to know what questions to ask or what the agreement she needs is called. If the customer knows what her problem is or generally what she needs, she is guided on our site to the right solutions. It takes a lot of the intimidation out of the legal process for entrepreneurs.

Once they purchase the right template or package, our step by step process explains the terms of the agreement, how to properly customize it, and how to confidently put the agreement or document into use — and we account for all learning styles in how the information is presented (written, visual and auditory). In The Know Legal is intended to meet the customers where their needs are with on-demand, affordable, templates and an empowering process.

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?

Erin: Prior to launching my own firm, I had always worked for a big firm or for the government. This meant I had always been fortunate enough to have administrative support. When I decided to open an estate planning practice, I was on my own — no assistant.

I was very excited to work with my first clients, a lovely older married couple. They had some significant assets that they wanted to pass along to their grandchildren, so we decided to set up a trust. I prepared the documents and presented them to the clients at the final meeting for review and signing. Imagine my horror when I realized that in multiple places throughout their documents, instead of writing the “Bob and Mary Smith Family Trust,” I had written the “Bob and Mary Smith Family Tryst.”

I learned a couple of important lessons from that embarrassing experience. One, it is absolutely essential to save plenty of time for review and revision and to have systems in place for catching errors. Often, setting something aside for a day and then reviewing it again allows me to see it with fresh eyes and catch errors that might have escaped me otherwise.

Second, I learned that when you are an entrepreneur, you are responsible for every little detail. The buck stops with you. Every time.

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?

Tania: My favorite professor in law school was Professor Pettit. He taught contracts, was brilliant, and he challenged us every day. You wanted to do well in his class, and you did not want to miss class. But more than that, Professor Pettit sang songs in class about contract law. Yes, it was possible to make contracts fun.

In our last class of the year, he sang a song about contracts to the tune of Hotel California, and I actually cried. Who was going to sing about contracts now? Professor Pettit shaped me as a lawyer, an educator and someone who learned how to take otherwise seemingly boring, scary or complicated information and make it into something informative, interesting and fun. When Professor Pettit passed away a couple of years ago, my best friend from law school flew from Hawaii to Boston to attend his services. That was the first time I had seen my friend in 18 years, and as we caught up over lunch, we talked about how we felt as though a part of us was gone now that our beloved professor was gone. But the truth is, Professor Pettit will never be gone, as his legacy and teachings will live on in all those he impacted so much.

Professor Pettit’s ability to make the law fun and accessible changed my outlook on it, and in the long run, that philosophy is what led me to In The Know Legal. It’s a good thing for entrepreneurs to be able to understand and feel confident about their contracts because our team has made it accessible for them. Not all law needs to be serious and stodgy — with the right 80s tunes, you can make anything a little more fun!

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’?

Lisa: Despite the fact that we are disrupting the practice of law and how business owners can access the legal documents they need, we aren’t going to be putting lawyers out of business. For better or worse, the practice of law has and will stand the test of time. Not every legal need can or should be handled with a DIY approach. A complete disruption and break-down of the law would not serve anyone well, and in legal matters of great complexity there is really no replacing the lawyer in the equation.

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?

Erin: I grew up in the late 70s in the American deep south. My mother was an attorney — one of the few “lady lawyers” in town — and she spoke with a thick Brooklyn accent. In our sleepy little town she was a one-women industry disruption! My mother worked hard to cultivate a group of diverse and like minded professional women for me and my youngest sister. We drove across the county to be seen by the only woman pediatrician for 50 miles. I was the only kindergartener with a Ms. lunchbox!

But years later, I have come to recognize that being at the vanguard of an essential disruption was hard on her. She was often lonely. People said some pretty ugly things to her…and we even got the occasional death threat! So, where we talk about disruption as a positive, and often very necessary force, that isn’t to say that it can’t be a difficult path to choose.

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

Erin: “Progress doesn’t always look like progress.” This is a mantra that I find myself repeating whenever I start a new project. Because sometimes we expect our work to yield immediate success and we kind of try to blow past the “messy” stage. But the reality is we have to be willing to sit in the mess for a little while.

Lisa: “You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.” This is as true in life and as it is in business. A classic Type-A, I want to fix all the things all at once. But trying to do that is like trying to paint a whole house by going from room to room and doing one brush stroke at a time. To accomplish anything with real success, you’ve got to focus on one thing at a time. This is something I have to remind myself of both at home, and at work. Creating In The Know Legal has been so exhilarating that it’s easy to get caught up in each new issue and task that arises without completing the one before it, but doing it haphazardly wouldn’t have allowed us to create the right foundation and systems to be able to scale and grow the business in the future.

Tania: “Find the problem and create the solution. And if there is a solution out there, do it better.” As outgoing as I was, law school was an isolating, lonely and scary experience. It seemed like there was this big secret to doing well and everyone knew it except me. But then I found that I was certainly not the only law student who had felt that way, so I created a company where law students could come for help with law school, find mentorship, and understand that there are people out there to support them.

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

Lisa: The mission of In The Know Legal was to remove a lot of the barriers between women entrepreneurs and a solid legal foundation for their business. But there are so many other barriers that women face personally and professionally that we could address. Women often have a complicated relationship with money and finances. Women often don’t receive the same level of medical care as men, and need to know how to advocate for themselves in a medical setting. Women face barriers entering the workforce and moving up the corporate ladder. There is a lot of potential for the In The Know brand to expand into helping women by removing these barriers, or showing them how to navigate or remove the barriers themselves. I think the potential for the ways In The Know can help empower women is limitless.

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

Tania: How much time do you have?

First, women are rarely seen as disruptors by the outside business world. Women can be seen as being highly successful, but we are rarely seen as disruptors. Disruption has historically been seen as a very male thing. Men are often seen as having a growth mindset where women are viewed as having a fixed mindset. The stereotype that men take risks, men don’t fear rejection the way women do, men create and innovate may have its roots in history, but not in fact.

Men peacock that they are disruptors, where many women do not even know they have the ability, or that in fact already are, disruptors since the expectation is that we either hide that part of ourselves or that we simply do not have that in us. The path for female disrupters has be fraught with naysayers, discrimination, harassment and “protectionist” warnings: “that is too risky” or “we don’t want you to get hurt” and “we don’t want you to fail” and “think of your family” or “think of your kids.” This, in turn, builds a mountain of challenges: social expectations are defied; we struggle to be seen as women rather than as women conforming to what men do; we have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously; we have very limited access to funding and investors; we are expected to be able to balance family and work perfectly where men are seen as really just needing to focus on work; and we have to face failure in an environment that is not as friendly to female failures as they are to men.

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

Erin: I am a huge fan of Gretchen Rubin. I have read all of her books on how we can create more happiness in our daily lives by being more conscious of our behaviors, thoughts, and habits. Her books, Better than Before, and The Four Tendencies, where she talks about how we can use self-knowledge to help create good habits and break less positive ones are always on my night table.

One of my great joys was when I was in Hong Kong and I found a Chinese edition of The Four Tendencies in a local bookstore. I was so excited that I snapped a picture and posted it to her Facebook page. She liked my post immediately and I was so excited I bought the book…even though I can’t read Chinese!

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. 🙂

Tania: We need knowledge, support and coverage for the fertility issues women face. Women need to know their options early on regarding cryo-preservation, IVF, fertility testing, single women by choice, and, most importantly, cost.

The Constitution awards us our most basic of fundamental rights under the 5th and 14th Amendments, and one of those is the right to procreate. Yet, that right is denied to so many women who face issues since in almost all states, fertility treatments are not covered. I was spoiled when I lived in Massachusetts since that is one of the few states where insurance does cover fertility treatment, and it is looked at as a medical issue rather than as a pure business. It also guarantees that women of all income levels could have children, not just those women who can afford the extremely high costs of those treatments.

I truly accidentally found out about fertility options when I met a couple who was staying at my place when I rented it as an AirBnB, and had I known and understood my options years before, I would have started trying cryopreservation earlier (right now, as far as I am aware, no states cover cryopreservation aspect of preserving fertility). So, we need 1. Knowledge; and we need 2. Coverage.

I would call the company ‘Sup Baby.

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

Erin: When my daughter was born, she was extremely ill. She spent the first three days of her life on a heart-lung bypass machine. For a long time we really didn’t know if she would survive and if she did, what her quality of life would be. That was a dark time in my life, filled with so many unknowns. Every day was a struggle to just get up and out of bed so I could go to the NICU to be with her. I took comfort in the brilliant Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous quote “If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”

How can our readers follow you online?

Visit our website at www.intheknowlegal.com

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @intheknowlegal
In The Know Legal is also on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/in-the-know-legal/

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

Female Disruptors: Erin Nobles, Lisa Sigman and Tania Shah of ‘In The Know Legal’ On The Three… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women Leaders Of Real Estate: Caily Heaps of Heaps Estrin On 5 Things You Need To Succeed In The Real Estate Industry

Invest in the community. Taking a genuine interest in your team, your community and your industry is the only way to motivate change and build connections that lead to success.

As a part of my series about strong women leaders of the Real Estate industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Cailey Heaps.

Cailey Heaps is a seasoned Managing Director and property professional with over twenty years of experience in residential real estate across the Central Toronto Core. After graduating with a BCOMM, majoring in marketing complemented by a minor in human psychology, Cailey started her career in advertising prior to joining her mother, Heather Heaps in the 90s in her real estate business. Having come from a dynamic and entrepreneurial family, Cailey quickly became a top producer and has since gained significant market share to become the leader of the top real estate team in central Toronto.

The key to her success revolves around her commitment to the client experience and achieving sales results to match. A keen speaker at international conferences and one of the most respected voices in the Toronto property market, Cailey is passionate about exploring new and innovative ideas to improve the real estate industry.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the Real Estate industry?

The simplest answer is my Mum. When I was 10, we moved from BC to Toronto and she started working. She loved bringing people together, brokering deals unofficially from a park bench. Eventually, that evolved into a successful real estate offering with my mom working as a single agent. I didn’t set-out to follow in her footsteps, but after earning my degree in commerce and a short stint in advertising, I eventually joined my mother’s business as an assistant, accepting her guidance and mentorship. Under her tutelage, and with her core values intact, I worked diligently and turned Heaps Estrin into a bigger business, leveraging my marketing experience along the way.

Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or take away what you took out of that story?

There have been so many! One of the most memorable experiences happened when I first got my license. I met my clients to do a showing and caught teenagers playing hooky from school in a compromising position. To this day, I never start a showing without calling out to see if anyone is home first.

The other thing I learned early on is that being aggressive at the negotiation table serves no one. Everyone at the table has a common goal, so deals brokered through kindness and patience have a better chance of ensuring our clients’ satisfaction and happiness.

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

I’m really passionate about helping our future leaders. I am currently working on a program that champions diversity in business. The program will focus on partnering kids with industry leaders

from all different professions — everything from marketing and advertising to medicine. They’ll act as a resource for practical guidance and advice, but most importantly, they’ll help them navigate making choices as they prepare to enter adulthood.

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

First, Heaps Estrin runs as a team. Instead of hiring an individual associate, our clients get a team of experts with exceptional experience in the market. It’s not the typical brokerage model where individuals are steered to be uber competitive. Very few real estate agencies work under this model. My team is equally invested in the success of our business. Everyone is committed to working hard and that’s demonstrated beyond day-to-day tasks. We live, work and play in the communities where we live and specialize in and often participate and give back to our neighbours. From ice cream socials to raise money for local causes to the #SilverLiningProject our team organized to raise much needed funds for Community Food Shelters Canada during COVID-19, my team and I are passionate about giving back.

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 hope it doesn’t sound cliche, but my Mum. She was an absolute pro, but was so humble and genuine. It wasn’t money that motivated her — — she was invested in the community and loved helping people. After living in Saint Lucia, the island became a special part of our family’s story. During a visit, she started working with Grow Well — a charity that serves as a drop in centre for children. She was so invested that she volunteered during every trip, she even made it her mission to have guests on the island donate financially to support the charity.

My Mum was also a great example of a woman who could handle anything. Four kids, a thriving real estate practice, countless friendships and volunteering — and she did everything with a positive attitude.

Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. The Real Estate industry, like the Veterinarian, Nursing and Public Relations fields, is a women-dominated industry. Yet despite this, less than 20 percent of senior positions in Real Estate companies are held by women. In your opinion or experience, what do you think is the cause of this imbalance?

I hesitate to speak on behalf of all markets, but certainly in Toronto, where I live and work, two of the largest real estate firms are owned by the same company, and the leadership team is largely made up of men. While this may not be intentional, it does demonstrate that there is work to be done. Fortunately, Royal LePage has good female representation at the executive level.

In general, real estate is a demanding field that requires a great deal of personal sacrifice, especially in the early stages of your career. Late nights, long hours and weekends are all part of the gig, so like other professional women, balancing work with family obligations without the appropriate amount of support is challenging. That makes climbing the ladder at some of these larger real estate companies challenging.

What 3 things can be done by a) individuals b)companies and/or c) society to support greater gender balance going forward?

Most importantly, leaders need to create a culture that promotes equity and inclusivity. Take the initiative to explicitly share your values and hold your team to the same standard. Denounce harassment of any kind and legitimize policies that promote equity and inclusion in organizational documents. Hold management to account.

This is obviously great in theory and is definitely the bare minimum. In my opinion, what happens next is the most important. Create opportunities for women, promote from within and identify a career path that moves toward leadership.

Finally, mentorship and training. Mentorship is so important. Senior members of teams should be paired with junior or entry-level agents. Invest in training and encourage women in your organization to learn all aspects of real estate by assigning diverse tasks. This helps with growth and development.

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

One of the biggest challenges, believe it or not, lack of support from other women. Executive women are often encumbered with daily duties and responsibilities proving their ability that they don’t take the time to mentor or support their junior counterparts.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Real Estate industry?

People, people, people! I love knowing that as a team, we can have a meaningful and tangible impact on our clients’ future — from the place they call home to their finances. We regularly challenge, collaborate and create opportunities to change outcomes.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

One major issue is the amount of affordable inventory. It would be great to have a model introduced where qualified buyers can rent-to-own, this will keep more people in the city.

Competition in real estate has always been fierce and the number of agents is continuously growing. It would be nice if all agents operated at the same standard of ethical behaviour and work so that there is consistency across the industry.

I believe that eventually the single agent model will fade in favour of a team structure like ours. Given the economies of scale available when you work as a team, the longevity of individual agents will be challenging in the long run.

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

I’m not an expert, but I do believe there is weight in having and sharing a strategic vision that your team can buy into. It’s also important to be open to honest feedback from your team — it facilitates an environment that is open to collaboration and only makes the organization better in the long run.

Ok, here is the main question of our interview. You are a “Real Estate Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non-intuitive things one should know to succeed in the Real Estate industry, what would you say?

First and foremost, you’ll never go wrong focusing on the client. My Mum and mentor was never financially-motivated and although this is my career and source of income, I approach every situation with what’s best for the client.

Real estate is all about client service so having high emotional intelligence is imperative. The ability to consistently forge positive relationships with clients and peers will result in good opportunities based in trust.

Research! Don’t assume you know everything about the market. It’s important to know the market inside and out and understand the inventory.

Have a plan in place. Plot out what you need to achieve success and the steps that you need to take to get there.

Finally, invest in the community. Taking a genuine interest in your team, your community and your industry is the only way to motivate change and build connections that lead to success.

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

I believe we have a long way to go to reach diversity in the workplace. We need to develop more mentorship programs and they need to be more prolific and far reaching. Regardless of racial background, kids don’t understand what opportunities there are in the world. Starting mentorship programs early will hopefully offer youth a better vision of their future and guidance on how to get there.

How can our readers follow you online?

Readers can visit us online at https://heapsestrin.com/ or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/heapsestrin/.

Women Leaders Of Real Estate: Caily Heaps of Heaps Estrin On 5 Things You Need To Succeed In The… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Make time to write down your shared passion — It’s crucial that you start off on the same page from the very beginning. Ask yourselves, “Why are you doing this and what would make you want to stop?” This is not an easy journey and there are many opportunities for us to disagree, but if we are going to the same destination, the exact path we take to get there becomes less relevant. Write it down so you can always revisit when needed.

As a part of our series about lessons from Thriving Power Couples, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jess Chow & Sunny Fong of VIEREN.

Jess Chow, management consultant-turned-CEO and Sunny Fong, Creative Director, Project Runway All Star, winner of Project Runway Canada and founder of VAWK womenswear label. Together, they are the co-founders of VIEREN, a new brand of luxury Swiss Made automatic watches.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you two to your respective career paths?

Jess: I come from a family of watchmakers. I grew up immersed in the industry — traveling to factories with my parents and learning so much about the world of watches. Naturally, as I got older, I wanted to forge a path of my own. I became a management consultant — reinventing brands, advising businesses, and learning about different industries. It wasn’t until I turned 30 that my perspective changed. I realized the power of time and I suddenly felt the need to put my time into something that was meaningful to me. It was kismet that around this time I met my co-founder Sunny, who shared a similar vision for himself and had a skillset that was complementary to mine. When Sunny learned about my family’s background, he told me a story about how he started wearing his father’s automatic watch when he turned 40, and how it ultimately became a daily reminder of how precious time is. When you stop moving, an automatic watch will stop telling time. At that point, it clicked. We knew we wanted to reconnect with and honor our pasts, and do so in a fresh, modern way to inspire people to celebrate the power of time every day.

Sunny: After nearly two decades in the fashion industry, I was looking for my next adventure. Winning Project Runway Canada, being a Project Runway All Star and launching my luxury womenswear label VAWK allowed me to explore my passion for creativity, and I was excited to take on the new challenge of watch design. I’ve always wanted to design a rectangular watch — a nod to a high school graduation gift from my family. When I met Jess, she reminded me of growing up with “old school” watches and we were inspired to bring the automatic watch back. Many people today don’t even know what an automatic watch is! We felt we had the opportunity to reintroduce it to a new generation that may have never experienced wearing one or felt the category was too intimidating from a price point perspective. Rather than contributing to the world of fast fashion, we also wanted to create quality timepieces handcrafted to last. My work has always been inspired by combining the old and the new, so for VIEREN, I strived to bring together traditional luxury Swiss watchmaking and modern design thinking to create powerful timepieces that can tell time forever.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you two joined forces?

Jess: When we started on this journey — even though watchmaking is my family’s business — we realized we still had so much to learn. Handcrafting a fine automatic watch is intricately complex and we wanted to learn from the best. Taking our vision, Sunny and I flew to Switzerland to get a better understanding about the state of the industry. We were lucky to team up with a forward-thinking watchmaking studio in the historical region of La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland willing to take on a creative challenge. When we researched watch design, we didn’t see a lot of rectangular options and we quickly learned why — they’re incredibly difficult to engineer! We were so impressed by the level of craftsmanship and precision in creating an automatic Swiss Made watch that we decided to share the behind the scenes making of our first collection OG Automatic in a five-part video series showcasing our design and creation experience.

Sunny: There was definitely a learning curve to making watches! First and foremost, I was faced with the challenge of going from yards of silk to millimeters in stainless steel. If one component is off by even 0.01mm, that piece simply will not fit together with the others. It took almost a year to perfect the watch case. We worked through countless iterations to achieve the perfect size and fit that would look great on any wrist — for both man or woman. It’s not easy to fit the circular automatic watch movement into a rectangular case while ensuring the watch is as thin as possible. Automatic watches are powered by a rotor on the back of the movement, which is a weighted disc that swings back and forth, winding the watch when worn. This makes the mechanism bigger and thicker, so getting our watch to be super slim at 9.2mm proved to be extremely challenging. We spent a lot of time on the fit of the rectangular case shape and bracelet, custom designing the matte monochromatic watch dial and our signature 18K gold minute ring — it’s all of the subtle details that make it a signature watch.

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?

Sunny: Translating a 2D drawing into a 3D working mechanism that looks good on the wrist takes a lot of work. When we created our first samples, we didn’t realize how many angles there were and how much of a difference each one makes visually to the final design. One funny story is that there was a hairline on our initial drawing to indicate a shadow, but the engineer had mistaken it for an actual crease line on the case. When we received the final samples, we were so confused. “Where is this line coming from?!” We had to spend more time redoing this piece because it didn’t look right. That small hairline had affected the entire design. It’s the smallest details that make our watch a quality timepiece.

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

Jess: To me, it’s that VIEREN represents old-meets-new. Our view is that the luxury watchmaking industry has been slow to change over the years. Many watches on the market are created from pre-existing components that are simply assembled and not necessarily new. We wanted to create something new and different; something design- forward that could be worn on someone’s wrist every day and last forever. Through my network, we were able to work directly with watchmakers and engineers in Switzerland to create each bespoke component of our watch for this first collection. It was fun working with both older and younger generations to create a unique watch that pushes the boundaries of traditional Swiss luxury watchmaking for today’s modern tastemakers.

Sunny: One of the things that was important in designing my first collection for VIEREN was ensuring that all our watches are gender neutral. I’ve always believed in representing diversity on my runway, and that sparked my drive to design watches that would work for all body types and genders. It’s encouraging to see more and more women shopping for automatic watches today, which have traditionally only been marketed to men. We want to share the art of luxury watchmaking in an inclusive way that resonates with today’s generation.

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

Jess: Right now, our focus is on building VIEREN within our local community. With everything going on in the world during this pandemic, we’re reminded of the people closest to home and how we can support each other. We believe in spreading positive energy and strive to remind people that every day is a special occasion worth celebrating. Looking beyond, we’re excited to grow VIEREN into a global brand; we were slated to head back to Switzerland this year to show at this year’s new Hour Universe watch and jewelry show in Basel. It is our hope that we can continue to share our message of empowerment and inspire people to celebrate the power of time.

Sunny: Not to ruin the surprise, but we are working on our new watch release coming later this year. It will be a further exploration of our monochromatic, tone-on-tone designs, but this time, playing with texture and new materials. We are looking forward to sharing more very soon! As things start to open up again, we also want to start collaborating with local talent and creative powerhouses to bring some new and fun ideas to the world of watchmaking. Fingers crossed that can happen soon.

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

Jess: Push back, ask questions and challenge the status quo. It’s easier to do the same thing than to do something new, but we find the latter more fun! When we started, many people told us no; we couldn’t make a rectangular automatic watch that thin, we couldn’t make an all-black watch, we couldn’t make a Swiss Made automatic watch at the accessible price point we wanted. It was our persistence and loyalty to our vision that enabled us to find new ways of doing things, and that in turn helped inspire our suppliers to try something different, push the industry forward and understand this generation better. Be brave and ask questions.

Sunny: Trust your instincts. Do your research, but know your gut is always right. Getting overwhelmed by too many ideas and opinions happens to everyone, but we find that whenever we’re feeling that way, we always go back to our original idea. That is why we named our first collection OG Automatic. When we had a million ideas — even designs for quartz watches — we were able to focus by remembering why we’re doing this… to create a brand that will inspire people to be their most powerful. OG is a reminder for us to always trust our gut and make every decision with our purpose in mind.

How do you define “Leadership”?

Jess: Leadership to me is an active verb. To lead means to be at the forefront — to create something new. So often we see industry leaders resting on their past successes and not focusing on innovation. Through VIEREN, we want to push the boundaries of luxury Swiss watchmaking and find better ways of doing old things. That’s the modernist approach.

Sunny: There are a lot of businesses that serve their own ego. To be successful, you have to put others first. Leadership is about serving others, and you can only do that by listening to their needs and establishing a trusting relationship with them. It’s important to me to find a way to do that while staying true to who I am and my purpose. Being able to adapt and manage change is key.

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?

Jess: For me, one of the reasons for starting VIEREN was to reconnect with my family. It’s been my biggest source of success. Not only am I learning more about the storied craft of Swiss watchmaking, but I am also exchanging knowledge with the older generation. Bridging the gap between the old and the new to create something innovative. My grandmother has always been my inspiration. She has taught me that success is about putting in hard work and doing what’s meaningful for you. I’m proud to be continuing the legacy of watchmaking in my family and sharing it with today’s generation.

Sunny: Success takes a long time; even “overnight” successes take years. In the journey to that point of success, it’s always been my friends that have given me the unconditional support and unedited opinions I needed. They are the ones that are always there to celebrate my wins and catch me when I need help. I’m grateful to have these friends that I’ve earned since grade school; they consistently remind me of my roots.

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

Jess: VIEREN exists to inspire others to pursue their dreams in the same way Sunny and I have pursued ours. In the coming year, we are excited to roll out new programs to support entrepreneurs and creatives in bringing to life their innovative business ideas and passions.

Sunny: Throughout my career and having been on Project Runway, it’s been of utmost importance for me to support other designers and creators in the same space, and to be a good example in my community. I try to be a fashion godfather to the students and entrepreneurs who want to break into the industry. I like to share my tips and mistakes, hoping that they will help foster their growth in this tough world. I believe we all have the opportunity to be successful and coexist, and that the only way for us to all get there is to have each other’s back, no matter what.

What are the “5 Things You Need To Thrive As A Power Couple”? Please share a story or example for each.

1. Make time to write down your shared passion — It’s crucial that you start off on the same page from the very beginning. Ask yourselves, “Why are you doing this and what would make you want to stop?” This is not an easy journey and there are many opportunities for us to disagree, but if we are going to the same destination, the exact path we take to get there becomes less relevant. Write it down so you can always revisit when needed.
2. Make time to listen and learn — Really take seriously what the other person is saying and how it can help solve the problem at hand. Often, Sunny and I say the same things in different ways, and after hearing each other’s interpretation, we find ourselves achieving a deeper understanding of the problem we are trying to solve.
3. Make time to say what’s on your mind — Ideas are not always fully formed when they come to you, but it’s important to get them out while they’re fresh. Say what’s on your mind and put it down on paper in a way that you both understand.
4. Make time for your needs — As entrepreneurs, it’s easy to just put everything into work and not give anything to yourself. Sunny and I are both perfectionists and have this tendency to neglect our personal lives for the business, but that doesn’t make for a happy person or an effective partner. We actively hold each other accountable to take time for ourselves so we can come back together stronger and ready to tackle the next challenge.
5. Make time to have some fun — Enjoy yourself and your time together. If you genuinely don’t enjoy time together, it’s never going to work out. As our name suggests (VIEREN is Dutch for “celebrate”), we like to celebrate, party and feast, so we make time to do that every week. It’s funny, a lot of the time, our best ideas come when we are just having fun over a dinner table.

You are people 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.

Jess: Celebrate the power of time! We can do anything if we put our minds to it, and we only have one life to live. It’s important that we never forget that and make the most out of every single day.

Sunny: That’s why we started this company; we wanted to create the tool that inspires you to embrace every moment.

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

Sunny: When I was a kid, I saw the classic film Auntie Mame and I wanted to be just like Auntie Mame when I grew up. Her famous line in that movie was, “Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!” As a now grown up, I guess that quote has resonated.

Jess: One of my first bosses said to me, “If you’re not making three mistakes every day, you’re not working hard enough.” Too often we look at mistakes as failures, and we use them as a reason to not pursue something we care about. But in reality, it’s through these actions we learn to become better and more resilient.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world 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 🙂

Jess: David Attenborough. I would love to hear his stories of the wonders of the world, stories of discovery and innovation, and how we’re all here trying our best to find a balance between change and time.

Sunny: Jean Paul Gaultier. He sparked my first love for fashion, and he is always adventurous and humorous in his approach. Plus, he’s a hoot — lunch would be fun.

How can our readers follow your company online?

On our website vieren.co/, and Instagram @vierentime!

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

Lessons from a Thriving Power Couple, With Jess Chow & Sunny Fong of VIEREN was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Joe Frey and Adrienne Snow of Western States Hemp: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or CBD Business

Adrienne: I am a firm believer that everything connects. I am not trying to “just build a business”, I am trying to improve myself and trying to improve the lives of the people who work in connection to me.

As part of my series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business” I had the pleasure of interviewing Joe Frey and Adrienne Snow — Western States Hemp.

Western States Hemp is Nevada’s most diverse, long-standing, and well-known hemp cultivation operation. Multigenerational Nevadans Adrienne Snow and Joe Frey lead the only company in the silver state to have cultivated both CBD and Fiber hemp since cultivation became legal. Adrienne Snow combined a decade of Eco-focused business innovation with Joe Frey’s extensive large scale farming experience in an effort to lead the charge of industrial hemp possibilities.

What sets them apart even further today isn’t just how many types of hemp they’ve cultivated, but the manner in which they do it. In an effort to take their operation to an entirely new level, they instated regenerative agricultural practices in their operations in an effort to cultivate a crop that will capture carbon, heal the soil, and provide a bio-degradable ingredient option to manufacturers and retailers that are serious about buying sustainably sources materials.

With a giver’s gain motto, and a strong belief that everything connects, the team at Western States Hemp is dedicated to delivering CBD, fiber and grain products that heal people and the planet.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Joe: The most interesting thing for me has been learning about regenerative ag, which came about at a hemp conference. I am interested in Regenerative Agriculture across all of my farming. It’s changed my mind set completely. Hemp led me to regenerative ag and I find it fascinating the amount of carbon that can be sequestered through hemp. Carbon Sequestration was the catalyst for changing how I farm.

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

Joe 1: That in a new industry like hemp and cannabis, there is a lot of opportunity for people to take advantage of others.

Joe 2: How hard it was going to be and how long it was going to take to establish our business and niche.

Adrienne 3: I wish someone would have told me how critical it was to have a marketing plan and strategic vision in place because A) differentiating yourself is critical but then letting the public know about why you are different and why your product is superior is crucial.

Adrienne 4: I wish I had known that I should set the bar incredibly high when hiring employees instead of setting the bar low and then moving the bar up.

Adrienne 5: My last thing I wish I had known was to scale slowly instead of scale exponentially year over year. I wish we would have scaled more slowly between particularly between year 2 and 3.

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

Joe: It was not really our mistake, but it is still funny. When we ordered our first load of seed from Bulgaria, it came shipped as Cannabis Sativa. It was excessively, randomly sampled. We only ended up with about 50% of it. About 300 kilos was missing, for sampling by the DEA and customs agents. We also got a letter from Fed Ex saying the bag was accidently hit with a forklift and they tried to repair it. It looked like it had been hit in about 10 spots. The funniest park was that the people who took it thought they were getting marijuana. Not only were they not getting marijuana, they got hemp that wasn’t even getting high CBD. If they planted it in with their own marijuana it was going to be ruined.

Are you working on any exciting projects now?

Adrienne: We are working with the NASC (National Animal Supplement Council) to be the first animal supplement manufacturer to develop equine supplements made from whole hemp, not post extracted materials and not just isolates or distillates. Not only will we be bringing a first to market product in the equine space. We will be bringing a first to market using regeneratively grown product that captures carbon, that is also backed and formulated by an animal nutritionist. Where a lot of products on the market are just thrown together by salespeople. Our supplement has been developed by a collective of farmers and horse breeders. It is the real deal. It is a real supplement made from untouched, naturally grown hemp.

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. 🙂

Adrienne: I am a firm believer that everything connects. I am not trying to “just build a business”, I am trying to improve myself and trying to improve the lives of the people who work in connection to me. Everyone who works for us has their own space, essentially to create their own job and their own livelihood within the bubble that Joe and I started. The movement for me would be that we are trying to create space for people to grow. I do it with people, Joe does it with plants. He tries to create a space and a place on the land that everything can thrive through the path of least resistance. As above, so below. Cultivation of people, cultivation of plants.

Joe: I want to change the world through regenerative ag and change the way people look at the land. I saw a quote the other day that went something like “to really be in tune with the land you need to feel like you’re owned by the land not that the land is owned by you”. To take that land and nurture and sustain it, and have a symbiotic relationship that is sustainable and can continue without input other than sunlight and water, is my goal.

Adrienne: We are both people who are passionate about who we are and what we’re doing here on the planet.

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?

Joe: I could not have done this without Adrienne. I probably would not have gotten the seed the first year. If I tried again the second year and got seed, I probably would have bought the wrong seed, would not have been profitable and would have given up as with most of the other farmers that I have seen.

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

Adrienne: Me personally I have learned a lot about the fact that I know I need to give direction, but one of the things I know that Joe and I do as partners is we try to hire people that can manage their own lives. That want to manage their own lives. Nobody wants to have a boss breathing down their neck. I feel like if you can hire people that you know need to be done to make sure the success of the company goes forward so that we all have jobs. Then I do not need to know that they were gone two hours to lunch with a friend or that they needed to leave early on a Thursday. I think that kind of freedom and flexibility creates employees who appreciate the team their on.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Joe Frey and Adrienne Snow of Western States Hemp: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Wendy Tamis Robbins: Five Things We Can Do to Develop Serenity and Support Each Other During These Anxious Times

Limit your exposure to news and social media: Prioritize time to be in nature, be with friends and family without talking about the pandemic, politics or other anxiety-provoking topics. Picking times to check in and creating boundaries around how much media you consume will increase your feelings of well-being.

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

Wendy is the author of The Box: An Invitation to Freedom from Anxiety, a speaker, life coach, an Ivy League graduate, corporate tax attorney for over 20 years, wife and stepmom of two teenagers. In The Box, she chronicled her journey from almost 40 years of debilitating anxiety, obsessive compulsive and panic disorders to finding freedom to live her best life beyond her diagnosis. Now she shares those hard-fought lessons and strategies with others as a speaker and coach to de-stigmatize mental illness and be an example of what is possible.

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 had my first panic attack when I was just six years old and developed my disorders as I grew. In order to hide my symptoms and scary thoughts, I became a perfectionist and people pleaser. I wanted to control and save everyone around me. So the obvious choice was to become a lawyer. That vision started very young.

I earned a track scholarship to Dartmouth and after law school accidentally stumbled into affordable housing investments and social-impact lending, which has been extremely rewarding. But even after achieving so much success in a traditional sense, I was more anxious than ever. I was still running from myself. That’s when I pivoted to writing, speaking and coaching.

About six years ago, while still accommodating my anxiety on a daily basis, I asked my doctors if someone with almost 40 years of anxiety, panic and obsessive-compulsive disorders could ever live a life free from those shackles. They all said “no” or “I don’t know.” I decided to find out for myself. As a way to process what I experienced while doing that work physically, emotionally and spiritually, I wrote about it.

The book started as a way to save myself, until about halfway through, when I could see a process unfolding. That’s when I decided not only to share the book as an example of what is possible, but to share the process by teaching the practical steps to finding freedom through my speaking and coaching programs.

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

When I decided to find the source of my anxiety to see if freedom from it could be possible for me, I had no idea how to start that work but couldn’t get the word “quest” out of my head. So I did what most people do, and I googled it. The first thing that came up was a course being offered by Deepak Chopra and Martha Beck (Harvard PhD, life coach to Oprah, best-selling author) called “The Quest.”

I signed up and was chosen to be coached by Martha on a live call. On the call I asked her the question I’d asked all of my own doctors and coaches, and she responded, “I don’t know, but I can give you a good place to start.”

She offered me a guided meditation that was life changing. At the time, I struggled with meditation, as so many of us do, anxious or not. But this meditation gave me a place to let my racing mind run, time to release stress I’d held in my body for decades and space to process my pain from a safe distance. It was the entry-level drug to a meditation practice that would change the course of my life.

Looking back now I see that moment as pivotal in my career resetting my path on this journey as an author, coach and mental health advocate.

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

The biggest sources of burnout in the legal industry are the long hours, deadlines and taking on the stress of our clients. We tend to prioritize our clients and families, while our own healthy habits and self-care get squeezed out. We need to run our lives like we are CEO of a company and make wellness a priority. Otherwise, other parts of the company will suffer.

I think awareness is paramount. The ability to pause and recognize the source of our stress and anxiety so we can implement the right strategies is a powerful tool. Minding our thoughts and the stories we tell ourselves is a big part of that. Our internal dialogue has a huge effect on our daily stress levels. Acknowledge that you can’t always control your circumstances, but you can control your thoughts about and reactions to them.

Finally, exercise and meditation, especially outside in nature. We need time to metabolize stress both physically and mentally. Here’s a trick to get twice the benefit: start with small promises you make to yourself daily and keep them. This will not only give you the gift of the exercise or meditation, but it will rebuild the trust relationship you have with yourself that may have suffered during the chaos of quarantine. And if you are hesitant to meditate, try active, guided meditations first when your mind is racing and there is no space between your thoughts. Practice more quiet contemplation when that’s available, to create and cultivate a peaceful center to tap into throughout the day as you recognize stress building.

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

Post-pandemic work culture is still difficult to imagine. A lot of offices will be implementing a hybrid approach, splitting in-home and in-office work time. If that’s true for the foreseeable future, I suggest: (a) building meaningful connections in your teams through shared experiences and support, (b) accommodating flexible schedules to allow employees the time to incorporate self-care to recharge, © having open discussions and programs on wellness — childcare, meditation, sleep habits, addiction, exercise, etc. and (d) implementing systems for scheduling, meetings and delegating in order to reduce stress and free your team’s minds for more creative and effective work habits.

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?

Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine is essential for our anxious times in order to understand what is happening in the brain and how that affects our thoughts and emotions and ultimately how we think about our own future, how we lead and how we relate to one another. It offers case studies illustrating the author’s thesis in real-life situations like the workplace and marriage. It also provides daily exercises and in-the-moment techniques to help calm the reptilian brain and energize and stimulate the creative and compassionate right brain he calls the “Sage.” I use several techniques I’ve learned in the book to defuse triggers and panic attacks, which I’ve written about on my blog.

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.

1. Meditation: Practicing meditation to cultivate a quiet, peaceful center you can return to throughout your day is extremely powerful. If the thought of clearing your mind of all thoughts and sitting quietly gives you anxiety, start with a guided meditation to keep your mind active. When I was first starting my journey to finding freedom from anxiety, the meditation Martha Beck gave me that I mention above was this: imagine you are watching an unbroken wild horse running in circles in a corral. Immerse yourself in the space, stimulating all of your senses. Sit with the horse every day for as long as it takes until it stops running. The horse represents your anxious thoughts and gives your mind a place to run and space to metabolize your fears and anxiety. Once you’ve spent time with this, other meditations will become available. As your comfort level grows, your practice will deepen, expanding your capacity for serenity not only while meditating but throughout your day.
2. Connection: Studies show that loneliness can negatively affect our physical and mental well-being. It can also exacerbate existing mental health issues. When I was struggling with anxiety, intrusive thoughts and depression, I isolated myself to hide my symptoms. I thought not talking about them would make me feel normal, but it only made me feel alone.
   -So first, recognize when your loneliness is having an impact on your wellness by checking in, journaling and noticing signs of isolation, over-eating or over-drinking/medicating.
   -Then, even if it feels uncomfortable at first, reach out to someone in your life you can confide in about how you’re feeling. Exposing your vulnerability will create that connection you seek. And connection doesn’t have to be with people — getting outside and connecting with nature can quickly bring real serenity to an otherwise chaotic or anxious day.
   -Finally, stay connected to yourself by making your mental health a priority. For me it’s like I’m a light that is dim if not plugged into my source. Those connections I maintain both internally and externally keep the lights on.
3. Awareness: Notice your thoughts and the stories you’re telling yourself and then question and examine them with a new level of awareness. Increasing your awareness can significantly impact your outlook on your current situation and the future. And in terms of re-entry, awareness can help you navigate these new norms that may feel unfamiliar and uncomfortable because we haven’t done them in so long or because they are new altogether.
   -There are three levels of awareness: contracted, expanded and pure awareness. We just need the first two because pure awareness is enlightenment and that’s a different interview. In contracted awareness, fear rules our thoughts. Our thinking is rigid, and our energy flow is hampered. We view everything as threats and obstacles. We are stuck in toxic emotions like dread, frustration and anxiety.
   -In expanded awareness we find space around the fear and fill it with compassion. Obstacles now become opportunities. We are flexible, balanced and creative. Deepak Chopra describes it as being in a pitch-dark room. You’re afraid because you can’t see anything, you’re bumping into things — even the furniture is a threat, especially to your toes! Then a light is turned on and suddenly everything makes sense and has order. Now the couch provides a place to rest and is no longer a danger. Give yourself permission to be afraid at first (“Of course I feel…”) and then turn some lights on.
4. Scheduling: If you want to clean up your mind, clean up your calendar. Yes, serenity can be found and created in your schedule. Our beyond-busy lives are a big source of anxiety, especially this past year.
   First, do a brain dump. On Sunday evening, write down everything you need to do that week, personally and professionally. Be very detailed. -Then prioritize and delegate as needed. Finally, add everything to your calendar (I use Google calendar), leaving space between activities for transition, unexpected interruptions and fires you may need to put out (proverbially of course).
   -Then throw away the list, knowing everything is accounted for in the calendar. This will not only reduce your anxiety, increase your focus and help you sleep at night, but it will create time in your day to prioritize the wellness practices discussed above. Don’t forget to schedule them!
5. Limit your exposure to news and social media: Prioritize time to be in nature, be with friends and family without talking about the pandemic, politics or other anxiety-provoking topics. Picking times to check in and creating boundaries around how much media you consume will increase your feelings of well-being.

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?

1. Ask them if they are okay more than once. The socially acceptable response is “I’m fine.” But for those most in need of support, more digging is required. Maybe start the conversation for them by acknowledging your own fears, to draw them out if they are reluctant to share.
2. Implement mental health resources and required programming before they are requested or necessary.
3. Offer an open door and compassionate ear. Make it clear that you are a safe person to confide in, even confidentially if necessary.
4. Actively look for signs of distress like panic attacks, isolation, canceling plans, trembling hands, short answers, lack of engagement and increased self-medication. Don’t assume they are isolated incidents.
5. Educate yourself on the science of anxiety to reduce your own implicit biases and understand what others are going through.

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

Books:

Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine

The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

The Box: An Invitation to Freedom from Anxiety by Wendy Tamis Robbins

Apps:

Calm

Deepak Chopra guided meditations

Shine

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

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” — Joseph Conrad

When I was looking for a place to start my journey to freedom from anxiety, I had a vivid meditation where I revisited my six-year-old self hiding in a cardboard box. I don’t want to give it all away here, but that was the first cave of many I entered on that journey. Each of them represented an open wound, a pain point that needed my attention to bring healing and forgiveness, and ultimately reconciliation and redemption. That brought me the treasure of freedom.

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. 🙂

That we teach our children how their brain works as part of our education system’s mandatory curriculum. Knowledge is power, and so many of us feel powerless when it comes to our thoughts. Physicists say our brains might be more powerful than every computer combined. That’s pretty darn powerful. They even say our brains may be quantum computers, which just hit the market in 2020, versus the digital computers we’ve had for decades.

I find it fascinating that we have these super computers at our disposal with literally no instruction manual. It’s like a demented game of trial and error or whack-a-mole! On my journey to finding freedom from anxiety I did a lot of research and training on how my anxious brain works, specifically how my thoughts trigger my fight-or-flight response, flooding my body with stress hormones that cause overwhelming feelings and physical reactions. Just this knowledge and the power it gave me to retrain my brain has been lifesaving.

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

I am on Instagram at wendy_tamis_robbins, LinkedIn and Facebook at wendy-tamis-robbins and Twitter at WTRobbins. On my website, wendytamisrobbins.com, you can sign up for my weekly emails and free downloads, schedule 1:1 coaching, and request information on speaking engagements and programs by contacting me directly through the Contact page.

The Box: An Invitation to Freedom from Anxiety is available where all books are sold online.

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

Wendy Tamis Robbins: Five Things We Can Do to Develop Serenity and Support Each Other During These… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Dimitra: I think having excellent clear communication is key and letting your team know your expectations. Also, from my experience it’s best to work with like-hearted people.

As a part of our series about lessons from Thriving Power Couples, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dimitra Milan and Jake Dunn.

Dimitra Milan is a co-owner and mentor at Milan Art Institute where she is pioneering a new age of artist influencers on social media and empowering them to change the world with their art. Prior to joining Milan Art Institute, Dimitra generated over a million dollars of artwork sales by the age of 15. Through her artwork and mentorship, she is spreading beauty across the entire planet and helping other artists find their true passions. Her husband, Jake Dunn, is a painter, writer, music producer, videographer and business leader. He is a curious soul, constantly adventuring into new arenas of creativity and finding ways to unite the different forms of art. Still in his early 20’s, Jake has become a business leader at Milan Art Institute alongside Dimitra by taking bold moves, working incredibly long hours and dedicating himself wholeheartedly to his endeavors.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you two to your respective career paths?

Jake: My story isn’t quite as straightforward as Dimitra’s. After aimlessly frolocking in college for 3 years, I decided that I needed a major shift.

I studied creative writing at the University of Southern California and I loved writing — still do — but I found myself helplessly obsessed with music production after a friend (and Youtube) demystified it for me. To me, it seemed just like writing: simple, yet beautifully complex at the same time. All you had to do was have the patience to build in layers. This obsession, paired with unhealthy drug habits drove me to skip classes in the pursuit of music. 3 years into college, after being a straight-A student all throughout high school, I was failing my classes. College wasn’t supposed to be a playground for me, but I was treating it like one. Around this time, I visited home (Arizona) and reconnected with a prior friend/short-lived romance, Dimitra. After explaining my situation, she could see that I needed help and talked with her mom about offering me an opportunity to work/live at their “Artist Commune,” creating music for videos that they were producing. I hesitated, agreed, then flaked out. But Dimitra was persistent. She saw destiny. She drove 4 hours to my home on the opposite end of Arizona to convince me; her passion and dedication really took me off guard. I wasn’t used to that. So I decided to move into the artist commune.

I immediately felt at home. I connected deeply with the Milan family and poured myself into all of the work that I did for them, making little to no money at the time — food and rent was covered — but beyond satisfied with the opportunity to be a part of something so special. My transformation was swift, stepping into my true self surrounded by people that elevated me. I quit drugs the day I moved in. I started out holding a camera and was enthralled by the whole filming process. I then moved into video editing. Given my experience with creative writing, I became the copywriter as we neared the launch of the Online Mastery Program, Milan Art Institute’s flagship art program. Following the launch, I decided to actually take the program myself. I fell deeply in love with painting. It felt like an extension of writing and music. I started to see a grand vision for my life falling into place, all of the skills I was learning lending themselves to one another. I was becoming the polymath that I had envisioned myself to be since I read The 4-Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss in high school.

After I graduated from the Mastery Program, Elli Milan, Dimitra Milan and Elijah Gedz (the co-owners of Milan Art Institute) offered me a chance at partnership in the business. They were looking for someone to champion a new project, later titled Milan Art Club. I leaped at the opportunity.

In summary, there isn’t an isolated story that has led to my career path, but rather the culmination of the last 6 to 7 years of my life has led to it. If I did have to isolate the turning point, though, it was taking the Mastery Program. It completely changed my life.

Dimitra: When I was 13, I absolutely fell in love with painting. I was consistently attending classes at Milan Art Institute, my parent’s art school. At first, painting was only a hobby. But then I started to sell a few paintings, and I witnessed how other people were affected emotionally by my work. This was an empowering feeling and it motivated me to paint as much as I could. I remember the first painting I sold, a little acrylic toucan for $50 and I thought “Wow, people actually like and want to buy my artwork!” When I was 14, I started taking art more seriously and with everything in me, I wanted to find my unique style and voice as an artist. I wanted my style to stand out. I took several portfolio classes taught by my mom in order to find my style. They were kinda like artist boot camps and we had to create 4 paintings per week. Through that immersive and intense experience, I finally found my voice. I remember the painting that started it all, a portrait of a girl with a crow on her shoulder painted in a mixed media style combined with realism. I fell in love with the process and subject matter, combining women with animals and telling a story. Since that day, I’ve dedicated my life to my art career, and worked very hard to be where I am. With hard work and passion, I believe you can achieve anything your heart desires.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since getting married?

Dimitra: Well, I feel like our life together is always an adventure! Jake and I are both adventurous souls. I feel so blessed to share everyday with Jake and work together towards the same goals and passions. It’s truly a gift to work beside the one you love. It’s hard to choose one story to share… something recent is that we just finished building our first house together! We basically live inside our art studio, so I feel very blessed to be right next to my studio space and be able to paint anytime I want. It’s just perfect!

Jake: I would have to say filming a reality show has been the most interesting project so far. Everything turned out much better than we could’ve hoped for when we set out. Everyone involved did such an amazing job and the story is very inspiring probably because we didn’t try to force it. Meaning, we didn’t force a narrative at all, it just naturally evolved over time.

Dimitra is one of the hosts, alongside her mom, Elli. I directed and produced the show. We created it exclusively for Milan Art Club, so the members could watch professional artists work on the same challenges (paintings) as the members every month. We’ve learned a lot about how to work together to create something over an extended period of time and it’s been such a rewarding experience. And it’s super entertaining watching all of the Milan family members interact.

Can you share a story about a mistake you made when first starting out, and a lesson you learned from it?

Dimitra: I’m not sure if I call this a mistake, because I feel like everything happens for a reason. And if I didn’t go through this experience I’m not sure where I’d be today. When I was 15, I signed a contract with a publishing company in Hawaii. They wanted to put my artwork in galleries all over the US, starting in Hawaii, and create limited edition print programs. They would handle all the business aspects including building a website, branding me as an artist, selling artwork, gallery relationships and pretty much everything else. It was an exclusive contract so I wouldn’t be able to work with anyone else. They had the first rights to all my originals, which they wanted 8 complete oil paintings per month.

So, at that time, it was the opportunity of a lifetime! I was basically handed a career at the age of 15. It was a lot of hard work and it was extremely successful. To the point where I was feeling burned out and couldn’t keep up with the demands, and had to say no to expanding to more galleries. I felt at times I was a machine, painting for the masses, rather than taking the time to paint the visions in my heart. To make a very long story short, I learned so much in this partnership and most importantly I realized how much I cared about the business side to art. I learned I’m the type who wants to be my own boss, and not abdicate control to the publishers who were branding me as someone I wasn’t. They branded me as a Hawaiian artist, even though I lived my whole life in Arizona! It wasn’t the true me. But I fully recognize I wouldn’t be where I am today without the experience. I wouldn’t have gained the knowledge I have, living through all of that. I’m grateful for the decision I made to work with them, and I’m so grateful I was strong enough to leave when the time came.

Jake: Growing up, my mom used to time me with everything I did. Whether it was taking out the trash, cleaning my room, building a fort, or riding my bike to the end of the street and back, everything was a race. This mentality permeated into how I did everything. If I couldn’t do it quickly, it was a failure. What I’ve realized in the last couple years of my life, often working 12–14-hour days for an extended period of time and not being anywhere close to where I see myself and this incredible business, is that life is a marathon. Those who can keep the consistent pace win. Sometimes, you have to sprint in the beginning in order to catch up or get ahead, but then, it’s just you. You are your competition. You are trying to beat your best time, it’s just a longer race. So, I guess I’m grateful to my mom for teaching me that it’s important to always be trying to achieve your best, but I’m glad that I’ve become part of a longer race.

What do you think makes Milan Art Institute stand out? Can you share a story?

Dimitra: There are many things that make Milan Art Institute stand out. The fact that we as professional artists share all our “secrets” with our students and don’t hold anything back. We are vulnerable and share all the experience and knowledge we have to give. By sharing these things, we attract more! We don’t have a “lack” mindset or mentality, and I think that’s key to living a successful career as an artist. The more artists we can make successful and live out their dreams, the more beautiful and amazing this world will be.

Jake: About a year ago the team was gathered for our Monday morning meeting, brainstorming what we could do to connect with a larger audience. Dimitra had the idea to create an abstract painting course. Most people are terrified at the idea of painting an abstract because there’s no associated imagery to ground the painting. We wanted to make abstracts accessible to everyone. Elli says she thinks it’s a great idea, and that, “If we film it all today, someone can edit it tomorrow, Jake can write the copy while he’s there for the filming, and Elijah can have it uploaded and on the website by Friday.” To top it all off, we were making it free for the first month or so. Most of the time, it took around a month of turnaround for our online courses and Elli wanted to do it in just 3–4 days. Everyone jumped on board and made it happen. That’s the beauty of our school. We all care so much about what we’re doing and all wholeheartedly believe that we are changing the world with what we’re teaching. And the fact that we’re a family business that’s grown beyond the family is further evidence that there’s something special going on here.

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

Dimitra: Yes! We are in the process of writing a book together. Love stories have always inspired me, and I’ve always dared to believe that I would live out a great love story too. How Jake and I came together is a long story with lots of spirals and turns. We came from very different backgrounds and for a long time I tried to forget I ever met him. We wanted to share our story with others to help them believe anything is possible, as long as you have the faith to believe it. We hope to inspire people and let them feel God’s amazing power and love. Most of all, we want to help people realize they were born with a unique destiny and deserve to have the greatest love.

Jake: Yes, everything Dimitra said! In addition, we are working on a few exciting new collaborations with our art. One of the pieces will be filmed and turned into a music video for one of my original songs. I’m really trying to let all of the different art forms flow into each other, even going so far to record different folly sounds from painting and incorporating those into the music. And it just so happens that my wife is my favorite artist of all time so it really is an honor every time I get to collaborate with her. I hope that Dimitra and I collaborating with everything that we do inspires others to involve their partners in their creative pursuits. We both believe that’s how God designed relationships and marriages to be: a collaboration of life.

What advice would you give to other industry leaders and business owners to help their teams thrive?

Dimitra: I think having excellent clear communication is key and letting your team know your expectations. Also, from my experience it’s best to work with like-hearted people. People who care about your vision and feel connected to it just as much as you do. These people can become lifelong partners, and they are priceless. I think sharing your vision on a consistent basis is also KEY. Your team needs to be on the same page with the flow of the business. Weekly brainstorming sessions have become very fruitful and keep our team meetings very interesting and fun to be a part of.

Jake: Passion is contagious. When you exude passion, your team members will pick up on that and it will drive them to achieve greater results than they ever would when being driven by fear. Like Dimitra said, your whole team should be like-hearted, striving to achieve the same vision. That vision should be incredibly transparent and it should be at the center of every decision. If something you’re about to do will help you short term, but work against your long-term vision, don’t do it.

How do you define “Leadership”?

Jake: Jocko Willink is definitely one of my heroes when it comes to leadership. A leader is someone who takes extreme ownership over every aspect of their domain. That means you take full responsibility and never abdicate blame. You bring out the best in your team, exalting their achievements and forgiving their shortcomings, so long as they gave it their all. You are the CHAMPION of your cause. You steer the conversation towards the objective, while simultaneously making sure that your team members feel heard. You give your team the space it needs to make important decisions and you empower them, even if you sometimes feel like your idea might be better because someday, you want your team to expand, and guess what? You’ll need more leaders to work with you. Great leaders breed excellent followers. Excellent followers become great leaders.

Dimitra: I totally agree with Jake! I love Jocko Willink too, a very motivational guy.

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?

Dimitra: I wouldn’t be where I am today without my parent’s support and encouragement. I feel so lucky to have them in my life and to this day we still live on the same property! They are both amazing friends and mentors. We share a lot of the same visions and dreams, and I think that’s very special. My mom has helped me so much along the way in my career, in more ways that I can count. In the beginning, she constantly pushed me outside my comfort zones, which helped me really grow as an artist and a person. She believed in me when I didn’t. She reminds me of what I’m capable of when I set my mind to it. And I am so grateful for that.

Jake: It’s towards the end of the Mastery Program and we’re sitting in a semicircle taking turns talking about our “superpower.” Elli is guiding the conversation, having spent months with all of the students, she knows them intimately — even though she picked up on their superpowers the day she met every single one of them. Elli teaches that in order to discover your superpower, you must confront your greatest pain. Every student cried that day, including me.

I went last. I started to talk about my greatest pain in life: my brother’s death. He died of an overdose when I was 17 years old. Tears streaming down my cheeks, I began to talk about how powerless I felt when I got the call. I tried to help him. To get him on the right track. But I failed him. My throat began constricting to the point where I couldn’t even speak anymore. That’s when Elli spoke up.

She was crying hard, too. She fiercely declared that I AM powerful, that my destiny is so special. That my voice is to be heard and that I am to empower others. I’m to help others discover their dominion and rule as a leader with love and grace. I’m to inspire and show others the untapped potential they have.

That day changed my life. Elli Milan was my mentor before then, and has been since. I’m eternally grateful for the guidance that she’s given and continues to share abundantly.

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

Dimitra: I believe we are bringing good to the world every day. Our mission with Milan Art Institute is to inspire and push people to live out their true destiny. Our destinies reflect our ultimate desires and passions in life. The more people who say YES to living their dreams, the better the world will be.

Jake: Art is so powerful. All it has to do is transform one life and it’s a successful piece. If that one person goes on to share their transformation with others, the effect is exponential.

By sharing our art and the techniques we learn online with our 10,000+ students we’re able to compound that effect.

What are the “5 Things You Need To Thrive As A Couple”?

1. Always communicate everything, be vulnerable and share your heart

2. Be a good listener

3. Never leave an argument unresolved

4. Do everything in excellence, strive to be your best self

5. Your dreams are just as important as your partner’s dreams

When two people really love each other — true selfless love — they are unstoppable.

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

Dimitra: This may sound crazy, but we’ve already started a movement. The name of it came to my mom in a dream she had: it’s called the Light Movement. Art is a very powerful vehicle to bring transformation to the world. Art prophesies our future and we encourage our students to paint hopeful messages, positivity, light, beauty and to create the world they want to live in. The Light Movement is bringing more light into the world through beautiful artwork.

Jake: The art that’s coming out of this movement is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s dethroning the establishment that seeks to promote dark art and is instead championing beauty.

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

Jake: “Reach for the stars, so if you fall, you land on a cloud.” — Kanye

This lyric has stuck with me since I was a kid. It has reminded me to strive for greatness on all occasions. The crazier the dream, the better.

Dimitra: “Faith over fear.” Throughout my life I’ve experienced what happens when you have strong faith in something, even when you can’t see or hear anything. Miracles have happened. One of the most powerful events in my life is how Jake and I came together. It’s a long story so I suggest you read our book when it comes out.

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?

Dimitra: I would love to have breakfast with Elizabeth Gilbert. Her book Big Magic was very inspiring for me and gave me a whole new perspective on artists. I would really love to connect with her one day!

Jake: I would love to get to know Kanye West. My mom had a CD of Graduation and every day she would play “Good Morning” when we got into the car to go to school. It never got old.

Nowadays, I love how he’s transcending the boundaries of art and pursues anything that he puts his mind to. I also relate to his story on a deep level: he overcame drug issues, found God and became a new man. Same here. But really, he just has an interesting mind. He seems to process information dimensionally, rather than linearly and I think that would lead to a fascinating conversation. Side note: I’ve actually painted Kanye before.

How can our readers follow your work online?

Dimitra and Jake: You can keep up with Milan Art Institute on Instagram @milanartinstitute, or follow our personal Instagram accounts @dimitramilan and @ohthatsjake.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

Lessons from a Thriving Power Couple, With Dimitra Milan and Jake Dunn of Milan Art Institute was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Future of Beauty: Alex Tomchenko of Glambook On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Beauty Industry

Beauty industry opens up endless possibilities. With the availability of modern technology, beauty has become more accessible and more personalized. There are opportunities to experiment with your look with the help of VR, customize your beauty products and connect with fellow beauty enthusiasts and professionals on a global scale.

As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alex Tomchenko.

Alex Tomchenko founded Glambook in 2020 with the goal to support independent beauty professionals in launching and growing their businesses. Inspired by his wife Anastasia, a top makeup artist and hair stylist with more than a decade of experience in the industry, he understood the challenges that she and her fellow artists were facing — attracting new clients, effectively managing existing clientele and having the right tools to propel their business forward. A year after its launch, the startup has received recognition from prominent angel investors in the tech community, including Vlad Pinskij and Nikolai Piskunov, for a total initial investment of €500,000.

Prior to launching Glambook, Alex was at the helm of advertising, digital marketing, SMM and SEO agency Idealpromo that he founded in 2008. During his 12+ years on the agency side, he spearheaded over 300 projects for his clients, that included a furniture giant Hoff, the largest logistics and transportation company in Moscow Citymobil and mass-market brick-and-mortar and e-commerce fashion retailer Incity. In 2020, Alex sold Idealpromo for an undisclosed amount to focus on the launch of Glambook.

In addition to the successes of building and running his own agency, Alex was the creator behind the most popular community VKontakte in his hometown of Krasnoyarsk that he sold for over $200,000 just a few years after its launch, multiplying his initial investment by 200 times.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

While Glambook launched in 2020, our story goes back to 2008 when I founded a digital agency, and my wife Anastasia launched a career in makeup artistry. We’ve been growing and developing our skills for over 12 years, becoming experts in our respective fields. I’ve always been supportive of my wife’s journey as a beauty professional and through that I got an insider’s look into the challenges that the beauty service community was going through — finding clients, managing schedules and promoting their business.

The idea to create Glambook was born out of my passion for all things digital and marketing, and a deep understanding of the needs of beauty industry professionals, which was a perfect blend of our expertise.

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

During my agency days, we had a very interesting case. We saw an opportunity in offering our marketing services to the touring dolphin experience that arrived in Krasnoyarsk, a city in Russia where our agency was based. Dolphins were a rare find in Siberia so we felt that with the right marketing and advertising the event could be a huge hit. However, when we approached the management with our proposal, they decided to pass. I’ve always believed in never taking “no” for an answer so although we couldn’t sign them on as our client, I decided to create a community on social media for the dolphin experience and it took off. In just five months, it has grown from 0 to 80,000 followers and became one of the largest and most engaged communities in our city, which we successfully sold a couple of years later. It was sold for 50x the original price that we offered to the dolphin experience management in our initial proposal.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

My career and professional growth have been influenced by two simple rules. The first one is to never give up. No matter how challenging things may be, push forward to achieve your goal regardless of the circumstances. The second one is to always aim higher. If you’re aiming higher, your quality of life will start changing for the better. You’re raising the bar for yourself, don’t settle for less, and then one day that becomes your lifestyle. But it’s important to keep the first rule in mind along the way.

One of the first business projects that I worked on was building a yellow pages-style directory for my hometown. I realized that we didn’t have one and some directories that were available had outdated information, lacked quality or professionalism. So, armed with a camera, I started to compile a brand-new directory by walking through the business district and collecting information from local shops by offering them to fill out the printouts of a homemade application. With the business’ permission, I took photos of their storefronts and interior. This way, I manually collected over 500 listings for my future directory.

This project taught me not to be afraid of starting something new and not to look down upon manual work. I’ve been following these principles throughout my career — whenever I had a new challenge in front of me, I’ve always tried to approach them with an open mind, rolling up my sleeves, if necessary. It has helped me in growing my digital marketing agency and now with building and growing Glambook.

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

I’m very grateful for my wife, Anastasia. She’s been the source of inspiration for me from the moment we met, and she encourages me to aim higher and pursue my goals. She was there for me during the challenging times, and she’s always believed in me and that things would work out. We’ve been together ever since our second date.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?

Coming from my personal experience, my wife and I traveled and moved quite frequently and that meant that we had to constantly adjust to the new environment. That included starting from scratch when it came to finding experts that we needed for our daily needs, such as beauty and grooming professionals. Those who have been in a similar situation know that it’s not easy to find quality service and it’s really all about trial and error until you can find a solid alternative to what you’ve been used to before.

The technology that Glambook is based on is about creating transparency and accessibility. We’re taking the established offline beauty industry experience online. We’re offering independent beauty professionals an opportunity to digitize their work, reviews, scope of services, while giving clients a broad spectrum of details to make an informed decision about service providers. Our goal is to take the unknown out of the equation for the clients. When clients make their appointments at the salon, they may have no or limited control as to which professional will be taking care of them. With Glambook, you’re booking your appointment directly with the professional you would like to visit and whose work you admire.

Additionally, we offer easy-to-use modern tools to the beauty industry professionals that help them optimize their schedule and workflow, which were not available in the offline space. It allows for seamless experience so that they can dedicate more time to their clients.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

While technology is becoming our best friend and a trusted source when it comes to all areas of our life — from food ordering and virtually trying on fashion and beauty trends to managing our finances and home security — I don’t believe that it will ever replace human connections. At Glambook, we’ve kept that in mind and bridged the gap between online and offline, bringing beauty services to our users in a convenient way of booking through a digital/mobile app.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?

• Beauty industry opens up endless possibilities. With the availability of modern technology, beauty has become more accessible and more personalized. There are opportunities to experiment with your look with the help of VR, customize your beauty products and connect with fellow beauty enthusiasts and professionals on a global scale.
• Getting services on-demand, anywhere. We’re so used to getting everything on-demand these days — the way we consume content, getting our food delivered to our doorsteps, online shopping, the list is endless. Thanks to digital innovation, on-demand beauty services are becoming more mainstream and tailored to fit the needs of a modern consumer. We at Glambook are excited to be a platform that offers our clients an opportunity to look their best with help of on-demand beauty services, anywhere, anytime.
• Beauty is multicultural. I love the fact that different countries have different views on beauty, styles and trends. When I travel, I always pay attention to what beauty looks like in places that I’m visiting, and how the country’s heritage and their authentic culture helped shape their beauty scene.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

• Master classes and certification. It’s important for beauty professionals to continuously learn new skills and aim for professional growth. It will help with the overall improvement of the quality of services and take the beauty services industry to the next level.
• Low pay. Many beauty service professionals that work at salons only get a fraction of the price the client pays for the service. I think that salons should become platforms for beauty professionals to practice and offer their services to clients. This way, it would help them reduce costs and offer additional value to the end customer, with most of the income from services going to the professionals.
• Desire to fit in. While many brands and beauty retailers are changing the narrative by going “un-retouched,” there’s still much work to be done to raise awareness about finding beauty in everyone. Instead of seeking to dramatically alter your look to fit into a societal norm, you may use the experience of beauty industry professionals to enhance your natural beauty while still being you.

You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”?

• Be yourself. Don’t try to fit into the standards of others. The basic principle of beauty is the inner balance and self-love.
• Nutrition is the cornerstone of beauty. Stick to a balanced, healthy diet and you’ll see the reflection on the outside.
• Sport. Find something that speaks to you and that would help your body stay toned and fit.
• Pamper yourself. Carve out the time for a spa visit or shake things up with a new haircut.
• Get inspired by other people and ideas and be an inspiration yourself! Surround yourself with people who motivate and bring out the best in you.

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 am a big believer in building and maintaining strong relationships and being sincere with one another. A lot of disappointments happen from unrealistic expectations. So, it’s important to stay true to yourself and be kind to others.

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

One of my favorite quotes is by a prominent Russian singer and songwriter “There are no reasons to stop, so I glide. And there are no peaks in the world that you can’t climb.” A few years ago, I set a goal — to build a product that can be useful to millions of people. Creating and growing Glambook has built a foundation for this journey towards my goal.

How can our readers follow you online?

LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/alex-tomchenko

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomchenkoAlex

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyGlambk/ and https://www.facebook.com/TomchenkoAlex

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

The Future of Beauty: Alex Tomchenko of Glambook On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.