Month: September 2021

Niloufar Nekou of Alter Health Group: 5 Things Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Work on learning a new skill or learn something new every day. Research has shown individuals who seek to learn new skills are happier in life and have higher self-esteem than those who do not engage in learning new skills.

As a part of my series about the “5 Things Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Niloufar Nekou.

Niloufar Nekou is a licensed marriage and family therapist currently working at Alter Health Group as a clinical director. Niloufar has experience in management as well as providing psychotherapy to individuals and families. She believes every individual is unique, so she takes a very hands-on approach to working with each client she serves. Her specialties include working with depression, anxiety, all types of trauma, substance and alcohol abuse, cultural diversity and handling life’s transitions.

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 have been asked this question by people I meet, and I have always had a different answer come to me. I don’t look for the answer I rather let it come to me and this time this is what came to me.

Growing up I was faced with a lot of changes and obstacles. I didn’t know how to ease the emotional burden and struggled with voicing my feelings. I grew up fast and looking back I never allowed my old self to process any of my emotions in a healthy way.

When going through school I enrolled myself in the nursing program and my goal was to save lives and to serve mankind; however, I felt like something was missing, so I decided meet with my academic advisor to discuss different pathways and careers.

I was given the option to switch majors from nursing to psychology. I thought about it for a day and came back and chose to major in psychology and was able to graduate on time with my bachelor’s. I was always the one giving my friends life advice and people naturally gravitated to me. In addition, I have always had the gift of listening and being able to make individuals feel heard and loved. Looking back this was the best decision of my life and I would choose that path again if I went back in time.

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

The most interesting story that I always go back to is when I was in my graduate program and began traineeship hours (you begin completing hours prior to graduation). I remember my first client walking into the office asking me, “Can you fix me? I’m broken, you have to be very good at what you do, or you are not going to be able to handle me.” Those words were so powerful that I decided to do everything I could to help her recover from what she was going through. What’s interesting about this case is that I worked so hard — harder than my client — and thought by doing that, I would be able to fix everything that she had gone through from her childhood to her adulthood. It puts a smile on my face when I think of this story.

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 graduated from the University of Charleston with my bachelor’s degree and moved to California in 2011. Two months later, I met my now husband and he began to encourage me daily to pursue my master’s degree. I was hearing him at the time, but it took me almost one year to have the courage to move forward. Once I did, I received a call from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology admissions, who informed me of my acceptance to their marriage and family program. I was beyond grateful and at that point I knew a new chapter was about to begin for me.

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

When I began my career as a marriage and family therapist (MFT), I had a hard time understanding burnout and how it affects so many individuals in the field of psychology.

To become a licensed therapist in the state of California you must obtain 3,000 hours over the course of three years. By the end of my third year, I truly understood what the word burnout meant. At this point, I knew I must do something. I found little to no time in my busy schedule — between my full-time job and full-time internship — to engage in self-care. I have learned over the years that self-care if not just a fancy word it is a commitment that one should adhere to. Especially as a therapist, it is “a must” to engage in therapy.

My personal advice to all my colleagues is to have structure and commit to self-care at least once to twice per week. You must care for yourself before you can care for another individual.

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

Establishing healthy work culture is an essential task that every leader is responsible for.

To create a healthy culture at work, one must define an ideal workplace culture. Once you have identified an ideal workplace culture then it’s time to establish trust and set clear expectations and goals. As a leader, always look to set measurable and attainable goals and give feedback frequently. Finally, focusing on employee engagement, recognize and reward good work. I have always followed this model and have seen success in creating a healthy work culture.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. Mental health is often looked at in binary terms; those who are healthy and those who have mental illness. The truth, however, is that mental wellness is a huge spectrum. Even those who are “mentally healthy” can still improve their mental wellness. From your experience or research, what are five steps that each of us can take to improve or optimize our mental wellness. Can you please share a story or example for each.

To have a healthy mind you’ll need to create structure in your day-to-day schedule.

Set goals and practice time management. Set your alarm at the same time daily, engage in physical activity, have a healthy breakfast and manage your time for work and your self-care.
Manage daily stress and anxiety by engaging in breathing exercises, mindfulness techniques, daily gratitude and exercise.
Reach out to loved ones and people that add to your life. Staying connected to loved ones has shown to promote a healthy mind and lifestyle.
Work on your communication skills and learn how to talk about or express your feelings regularly. Seek therapy, if needed, to learn how to manage your emotions before they become unmanageable.
Work on learning a new skill or learn something new every day. Research has shown individuals who seek to learn new skills are happier in life and have higher self-esteem than those who do not engage in learning new skills.

Much of my expertise focuses on helping people to plan for after retirement. Retirement is a dramatic ‘life course transition’ that can impact one’s health. In addition to the ideas you mentioned earlier, are there things that one should do to optimize mental wellness after retirement? Please share a story or an example for each.

Research has shown an 8–10 percent decline in mental health for individuals post-retirement in a period of six years. Being proactive with planning for the adjustment period can prevent a decline in mental wellness in individuals who are closer to retirement years.

A former client of mine told me once, “I feel lonely. I find it challenging getting through my day, I feel bored and hopeless. I feel as though I am brain-dead, and I am being left further and further behind in social interaction and discovering new hobbies…I don’t have the desire to do anything, I was wrong about retirement.”

Other than being proactive with planning, it is critical to connect with the outside world to increase sense of self-worth and belonging.

How about teens and pre teens. Are there any specific new ideas you would suggest for teens and pre teens to optimize their mental wellness?

Parents or legal guardians need to be educated on warning signs of their teen and pre-teen mental health conditions. Other than seeking professional guidance, parents or legal guardians must learn how to engage with their children and to teach them healthy coping skills from early ages. Most teens struggle with expressing their feelings and as a result, they engage in unhealthy coping mechanisms. Preventative measures are key to identifying and minimizing mental health concerns in teens and pre-teens.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?

I have always gravitated towards learning why we are the way we are, and that lead me in to specializing in traumas and getting trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing). I believe healing begins when one is open to healing their deeper wounds.

One of the books I had to study was “The Body keeps the Score” by Bessel A. van der Kolk.

This book helped me understand the relationship between trauma and the body. Personally, it helped me make some realizations about myself and those around me that helped me gain more skills as a therapist.

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. 🙂

If I was to start a movement it would be called “Alter Movement.” The inspiration comes from Alter Health Group, the treatment center I work at currently. Our CEO inspires me with his mission and vision to change lives day in and day out. The purpose of the “Alter Movement” would be to bring out the best in people and save lives every day.

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

My life-long favorite quote is: “Your life is already a miracle of chance waiting for you to shape it’s destiny.” -Toni Morrison.

This quote has motivated me for years. I have written this quote in my schoolbooks since I began high school and I have saved in my phone as a reminder to myself that life is in existence and what I do with it will shape who I am and how I want to live.

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

I used to be more active on social media but have been so focused on my life and work that I have had very little time to attend to it. I do have an Instagram page named: psychology_wellness_oc.

I’m hoping to spend more time to develop my page for users who are looking for positive, inspirational and educational content.

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

Niloufar Nekou of Alter Health Group: 5 Things Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Liana Blomquist On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Try not to overthink things. I still struggle with this a lot because of my corporate background, but I tend to overthink the small things too much and have missed out on some opportunities because of it. I’m especially guilty of this when it comes to social media where I think too hard about the strategy and less about the execution. The funny thing is, my content tends to do better when I’m not thinking too hard about it and just executing, so it really is a catch 22 in the end.

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

Founded by Liana Blomquist, a beauty industry veteran and certified horticulturist, Brooklyn Rooftop Botanicals, New York’s first and only rooftop beauty farm, was born in 2019 out of her passion for gardening and beauty while re-evaluating her consumption habits and the way they affect the planet.

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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?

Of course, and thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to tell my story. I’ve been a big fan of what Thrive Global has already done and is continuing to do for its community and I’m so honored to be a part of it.

To start off with, I’m half American and half French and I was born in Geneva, Switzerland but grew up between Grasse in the South of France (the perfume capital of the world), London, and New Jersey.

I started my career at Elizabeth Arden, later bought by Revlon, in a local marketing role in London where I was part of the whole celebrity and designer fragrance movement. I launched top-selling celebrity fragrance lines such as Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Nikki Minaj and designer fragrances such as Juicy Couture, John Varvatos, BCBG, and Halston.

When I moved to New York, I switched to a global marketing and product development role and managed the global marketing and product innovation calendars for the Elizabeth Arden fragrance and skincare brands such as Red Door, Green Tea, White Tea, Prevage, Superstart, and Ceramide. Over the span of my time there, I launched over 30 fragrance and skincare products, winning global awards and nominations from key publications and foundations.

Brooklyn Rooftop Botanicals or I sometimes call it BRB, started as an idea back in 2018 when I started getting back into gardening. I already had some basic knowledge, but it quickly became a passion where I spent every minute of my free time tending to my plants. During that same time, I was also becoming more conscious of my beauty consumption habits and how they were affecting the planet, and then it hit me. I realized if I grew potent beauty botanicals, I could merge my passions for beauty and gardening to help make New York City and the beauty industry greener and more beautiful places.

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

Brooklyn Rooftop Botanicals is New York City’s first rooftop beauty farm that currently spans over three rooftops (2K sq ft) and grows over 50 botanicals to create extracts and beauty products out of. My mission is to show and educate how beauty botanicals can be farmed in an urban environment so we can think more locally, sustainably, and consciously when it comes to our beauty consumption habits.

Gone are the days of global production without consequences, climate change is real and we now have no choice but to reel in the way we consume. The personal care industry is still creating 120 billion units of plastic (of which only 9% will ever be recycled) and contributing to 1/5th of the world’s deforestation per year to produce soybean and palm oil, raw materials that are found in abundance in personal care products and sometimes guised under different names. Reusable, sustainable and local is the only way forward and that’s why I started Brooklyn Rooftop Botanicals. I call it my growing beauty to change beauty movement or #growingbeautytochangebeauty.

Another reason why Brooklyn Rooftop Botanicals is so disruptive is that I’m transforming wasted rooftops into working beauty botanical farms that help to mitigate climate change’s impact on New York City and bring those raw materials that used to travel the world to get into your product more locally. Furthermore, I’ve developed a truly transparent and vertically integrated production process that shows how raw materials are grown, processed, and added to products to really bring that value back to the end customer.

SOURCES: https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/09/18/the-worlds-worst-companies-for-plastic-waste-pollution-infographic/?sh=30abd5be6f10 , ² https://wwd.com/beauty-industry-news/beauty-features/top-100-beauty-brands-2020-beauty-inc-1234805760/ , ³https://ourworldindata.org/what-are-drivers-deforestation , ⁴https://www.unep.org/interactive/beat-plastic-pollution/, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/plastic-produced-recycling-waste-ocean-trash-debris-environment

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?

Oh wow, there are so many it’s hard to think of one, so I think the expression, failing to learn is how I thought about each of these mistakes. I jumped into this whole adventure thinking it would be a whole lot easier because of my background. While it did give me a leg up when it came to product formulation, I wasn’t an actual formulator in my previous role, so when I started looking at those “natural” skincare recipes that you find all over Pinterest, I thought it would be a piece of cake. In fact, most of those recipes don’t even work or are safe for the end-user. I was a typical Dunning Kruger profile where my confidence was super high at first because I thought I knew everything there was to know about growing and processing beauty botanicals on a roof and formulating products. It of course quickly shot down after many months of epic fails and I felt super discouraged. It’s not until I really started going deeper into my research, taking classes, and practicing the skills I was acquiring, did I get to where I am today. I think the lesson for me and for anyone looking to start something new is you don’t have to absolutely know everything but do your research and be very clear of what it takes before you go full force.

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?

All I can say is thank the heavens for Gwen Schantz from Brooklyn Grange. When I was pulling together my business plan, Gwen really helped me put all my ideas down to pull together a realistic and structured plan on how I wanted to get from point A to Z. She never sugar-coated anything when explaining what needed to be done which I really appreciated, and her knowledge of the green roof space is incredible, so I’m truly blessed for her realistic wisdom while also pushing me to work smarter.

My mother-in-law Frederique Picard, CEO of the shoe brand Carel Paris, has also been someone I’ve looked up to during this adventure. She’s one of the coolest and more laid-back people I know, and I really appreciate her candid feedback. Even though she lives in Paris and we don’t get to see each other often, we get on zoom calls to catch up and talk business and get a point of view from “the other side of the pond”. It’s important to talk to your local peers, but if you’re thinking long term, it’s also good to get ideas from other countries you might look to expand to in the future.

Babba Rivera, the founder of Ceremonia and owner of my 2nd rooftop, has been a pure inspiration for me over these last few years. Knowing her personally and seeing how she’s balanced launching a company and having a baby at the same time, really gave me the strength to keep pushing on with my dream. She has this super positive, can-do attitude and relentless energy that she instills in every part of her life. I really look up to her and was so excited to partner with her on her rooftop. It’s been a crazy ride with roof, skylight, and water line replacements, but she is someone I can rely on, and am beyond grateful to call her my friend.

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

Disrupting for positive change, and I mean real change that is going to benefit society and the world and not just be another marketing-driven product or idea, is what I truly believe is positive disruption. Disrupting an industry that further isolates and drives apart our society and continues to pollute our world, is not. In my mind, there is a clear difference between innovation to improve and innovation to sell. We often see simple, everyday products (that nobody really needs) out there that are “reinvented” and then marketed like crazy as a “necessity” or an “Improvement to your life” to make a buck, so I think we all need to do our part in this world to really understand and research what we’re buying so we’re not feeding into the cycle.

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

Have a bigger and long-term picture of what you want to do, and have it absolutely crystal clear in your mind, but be realistic about how you’re going to get there with achievable and measurable goals. I have a real long-term vision of where I want Brooklyn Rooftop Botanicals to go, but I was trying to go from 0 to 100 too quickly. After having spoken to some influential entrepreneurs about what I was trying to do, I realized I wasn’t focusing as much on the small things I needed to do now, so I took a step back and started from the basics.
Know your strengths and find the people who can fill in your weakness gaps. This piece of advice came from a lot of different entrepreneurs and from my personal experience as well. I consider myself an introvert and I was never great at reaching out for help in my younger years. When it came to starting Brooklyn Rooftop Botanicals, I knew I couldn’t do this alone, so I branched out and cold-called everyone in the industry to get any thoughts and tips to help get me to the next level. I know I keep using these common expressions, but it really does take a village to raise a child.
Try not to overthink things. I still struggle with this a lot because of my corporate background, but I tend to overthink the small things too much and have missed out on some opportunities because of it. I’m especially guilty of this when it comes to social media where I think too hard about the strategy and less about the execution. The funny thing is, my content tends to do better when I’m not thinking too hard about it and just executing, so it really is a catch 22 in the end.

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

We’re only at the beginning and there are exciting things coming soon, but I’m looking to expand to a much bigger rooftop over the next few years. My end goal is to make Brooklyn Rooftop Botanicals a real community space, both online and in-person, where people can link up with friends and family, old and new, to get inspired with new ideas, to take on a challenge, and take steps to learn how to shop more locally and live more sustainability when it comes to beauty through educational content.

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

I’ve been lucky in that I’ve had a lot of support over the last few years from both men and women alike, so I haven’t felt a true difference in the way I’ve been challenged. What I’m trying to do is also very niche, so I haven’t encountered a real counterpart to be able to give a genuine comparison. That doesn’t mean women disruptors don’t experience these differences, and I can write a book, like any other woman who’s made a successful, high-flying career for herself, on the ways we’re treated and challenged differently in various industries. The patriarchy is still very much alive, and we unfortunately must continue to push our ideas and agendas out there until we’re heard and appreciated as equals by those who do not deem us to be.

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

The Death of Expertise by Tom Nichols is one of the more recent books I read that had a deep impact on my thinking. I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s been having a difficult time navigating this new age of information where everyone’s thoughts and opinions on a certain topic matter more than facts. It came to a point where I didn’t trust anything that I was reading or hearing anymore and I needed to dig deeper to understand how I was researching, breaking down, and disseminating information. As a content creator and educator with a following and a background in marketing, I know what fear mongering, clickbait, and propaganda marketing can do, so I hold myself responsible for all the information I put out there and list all my sources for anyone to check my work. This of course leaves me out in the open to a world that takes no prisoners, but I do what I do with the understanding I’ll continuously be challenged, so I thank this book for the peace of mind it’s been able to give me.

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 truly, honestly believe Brooklyn Rooftop Botanicals is and will be a movement. We’re growing beauty to change beauty, and I hope you’re all ready for the ride.

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

A life lesson quote I often repeat to myself by C.S. Lewis is, “you can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending”. I’ve always been a nostalgic person, so I often think about the what-ifs. This has plagued me in my life because there was always a part of me that wondered what life would have been like if I had taken a different direction or made a life-changing decision quicker. This quote serves as a reminder that I didn’t know any better back then but I’m much more equipped now, so the decisions and actions I make now to get me where I want to go are what is important.

How can our readers follow you online?

You can follow me at www.brooklynrooftopbotanicals.com where I share educational content on how to grow, formulate and live the BRB way of life. You can also follow me and my content on Instagram @brooklynrooftopbotanicals, TikTok @brbotanicals, and on Youtube @brooklynrooftopbotanicals

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

Thank you!

Female Disruptors: Liana Blomquist 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 Founders: Nina Meehan of Bay Area Children’s Theatre On The Five Things You Need To Thrive…

Female Founders: Nina Meehan of Bay Area Children’s Theatre On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

It Takes a Village-It’s so critical to help yourself by collecting your support network. Story — When I hired my first Executive Assistant, a very smart board member told me, “Nina, have your EA do everything possible including booking your hair appointments.” I pushed back because I was so worried that the EA would be upset about doing “personal” errands. My board members pointed out that getting your haircut part of how I do my job well…I do a lot of public speaking, I need to look good and presentable.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nina Meehan.

Nina Meehan inspires the broader community as a skilled theatre producer, award-winning director, and dedicated arts educator, with expertise in youth development.

Nina’s award-winning theatrical work for young people as CEO and Founder of Bay Area Children’s Theatre has reached more than 1 million kids and adults and has toured nationally and internationally. Nina speaks and writes frequently about creativity, arts education, nonprofit management, and theatre for young audiences (TYA).

My path began at age 7 when I was in a school production of “The Jolly Postman.” I played an alligator. As a kid, school was very challenging for me because I am dyslexic. So class time was a constant struggle, but being on stage always felt comfortable.

Fast forward to my college years at Northwestern University where I studied theatre with an emphasis in Children’s Theatre and Education. I started my career as an actor and arts educator and within a few years, I was looking around the San Francisco Bay Area and asking, why isn’t there a TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) company here like there is in Seattle and Minneapolis and Phoenix and all these other places. So, I found four friends and we started a company! The first few years we were volunteers while I was working three other jobs and getting my Masters in Nonprofit Administration.

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

Bay Area Children’s Theatre is a nonprofit organization. Early on, I did my first big “ask,” meaning I was asking a potential donor for a specific dollar amount. This particular ask was $6,000 and I was SHAKING as I sat at that table and invited the donor to support our upcoming production. He went away to discuss with his family and came back with a check for $10,000…BUT his stipulation was that I used the extra $4,000 to start giving myself a salary. He knew that I would never make that leap myself, but that it was critical for the growth and maturity of the organization to have paid staff. I learned so much from that experience.

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?

Oh wow…I made so many mistakes!!! I think my favorite one was a production of “Junie B. Jones, the Musical” that we did very early on. We were partnering with an organization that had a stage for our performance venue. This particular partner had lots of different performances coming through and they would make flyers and posters that advertised multiple events as part of the agreement. This was before I learned how important it is to clarify exactly WHO our audience is and what is appropriate for them.

So, I show up at the theatre and I look up at the big poster at the front of the theatre and in HUGE letters right next to our “Junie B. Jones” logo is a proud advertisement for “The Clitoris Festival” and a helpful illustration next to the words!

Definitely learned that I need to be in charge of our messaging and always aware of protecting the brand. And…no…I did not attend the “Clitoris Festival” but maybe my life would be different if I had?

I had a professor in college, Rives Collins, who has influenced an entire generation of TYA artists and leaders. Rives taught Creative Drama, Storytelling and Children’s Theatre. And in each of those classes, I found my home. I was so aware of how he created classrooms that inspired creativity, inclusion and imagination.

In fun news, I have had the opportunity to go back to campus and be a resource for his students and now, I am the Board President of TYA/USA (The national organization for Theatre for Young Audiences) and I see him at all of our conferences!

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?

So, I am a nonprofit founder which means that we didn’t get “investment” in the traditional sense. I built the company one dollar at a time with very little Angel funding even in the form of donations. And, I will say that being a founder takes this weird combination of grit, determination and humility. Our society has so many narratives for women around “perfection” and at the same time, “saviour complex,” so we have this terrible combination of young women being afraid to fail and not being perfect and, also this compelling narrative that a man needs to swoop in and “save the day.” Being a female founder requires you to fail over and over again and learn from each failure. And, it requires you to be your own Knight in Shining Armor…if the toilet floods at midnight, you might be the one with the plunger…it’s just part of the job!

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

It’s critical for us to support young women in their early teens to see themselves as leaders — giving them opportunities in school to be validated by their desire to take risks, not necessarily just getting the right answers and celebrating making mistakes and learning from those mistakes.

We also need to have a way to support women who have young kids with affordable childcare. It should not be a requirement to assume that women will postpone having children in order to found a company. If a woman wants to be a founder and have children, they need to have access to daycare, preschool and a flexible work environment to accommodate the reality of being a mom and working.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

Women are incredible leaders! If you look at the skills that current leaders need — empathy, collaboration, de-escalation of conflict, flexibility — these are all skills that women tend to have as super powers. As a female leader, I have had so many young women who have worked with us talk about how they see me as a role model. If we don’t have female leaders now, we won’t have them in the future either.

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

We cannot do it all.

I am a mom of three. I run a nonprofit that has reached over 1 million people with our shows and classes. I also really like to exercise, go camping, read, watch dumb reality TV shows. But, when I am asked “How do you do it all?” I find myself without words (which is weird for me). I can’t and don’t do it all. I need help to make it happen and even then, there are days that I barely get the kids to school with their shoes on or dinner on the table. I have childcare help, I have an amazing staff, I have a husband and parents who are very active. The myth of the woman who does it all is damaging and plays directly into the story about “perfection” that plagues so many women in our society.

My job is always fun.

I run a Children’s Theatre. I LOVE my job. I am so proud of the work that we do. But, I am often told things like, “You must just have fun all day long.” Nope. Leadership is leadership. I have to make really hard decisions. I am often not liked. I spend a lot of time thinking about budgets and strategy. Just because you are in leadership in a field like education or entertainment and you are a women does not mean that your job isn’t serious or real.

Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?

I think everyone could potentially be a founder, but you definitely have to want to be the one in charge. Three traits that come to mind are passion, drive and empathy. I do know that there are some folks that at different phases in their lives really want to be in support of others….these people are CRITICAL because they can be amazing number twos and that support is critical for any founder.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

Make the Cold Call — Cold calling feels really uncomfortable and we, as women, are trained to “not bother” other people, but cold calls work!!! Story-I cold called Chelsea Clinton’s office and ended up landing the opportunity to adapt her book “She Persisted” into a musical. That show is now available to license nationwide.
It Takes a Village-It’s so critical to help yourself by collecting your support network. Story — When I hired my first Executive Assistant, a very smart board member told me, “Nina, have your EA do everything possible including booking your hair appointments.” I pushed back because I was so worried that the EA would be upset about doing “personal” errands. My board members pointed out that getting your haircut part of how I do my job well…I do a lot of public speaking, I need to look good and presentable.
Take Your Space — Men are trained from a very early age to take up space in a room and we, as women are taught to take up as little space as possible, so push against this and take your space whenever possible. Story-I can remember being at a bar at the end of a conference day in conversation with 6 other colleagues, all male, all over 6 feet tall. I am 5’3”…I am standing around with these guys and the conversation is literally going over my head. So, I looked around, grabbed a table and waved over the guys. Once we were sitting, I could talk eye to eye. That night, we all left with an agreement to do a seven theatre co-commission.
Love Every “Beautiful Oops” — Barney Saltzberg wrote this incredible booked called “Beautiful Oops” which is about the idea that every mistake is an opportunity to make something beautiful. I had the honor of commissioning and directing an original musical based on this book. And, since doing that show, my entire organization has adapted the concept as a mantra. Something goes wrong and we CELEBRATE the beautiful oops! (for the record, I also use this in my parenting).
Your Needs Matter-As a female founder, it can often feel like we need to be taking care of everyone and everything around us, but if you are not taking care of you, I guarantee, your leadership will suffer. Story-I spent a year with our amazing Producer, Christina kicking me out of the office every day at 4:40pm so I could get to a 5pm hot yoga class. She had it on her calendar and every day, starting at 4:30, she would quietly say, “Nina, it’s time to go…yoga…” To be fair, some days, I just needed to stay at the office, but most of the time, I went. And Christina would be the first to tell you that I was a better person the next day if I left and did the class.

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

I sure do hope I do! I am so proud of bringing the joy and magic of live theatre to a million people across the globe. I believe that theatre has the power to inspire imagination, create empathy and ignite a love of story. If I’ve helped even one child connect to their own ability to dream and create, I’ve done my job.

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

We need creative play! Adults and kids alike are becoming increasingly isolated and sucked into our tiny little screens. If there is one thing I could inspire, it would be 10 minutes per day of CREATIVE PLAY for all people…this could be anything…music, dance, games, stories, visual art…whatever encourages self-expression and playfulness.

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

Brene Brown, if you are reading this…I want to go on one of your daily 5 mile walks with you to deep dive on creative play and how it connects with “Wholehearted Living.” Your book, “The Gifts of Imperfection” had a profound impact on my life.

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

Female Founders: Nina Meehan of Bay Area Children’s Theatre On The Five Things You Need To Thrive… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Bonnie Kuhl On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

To thrive and succeed you need to be disciplined. By this I mean simply see something through as best you can. This one really comes down to making sure what you are doing is something you care about. You could really be driven for it because of income, but also for love, or change. Make sure that what you’re doing aligns with your personal values. This is how you squeeze every drop from the discipline you put in when you sit down to make magic happen.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bonnie Kuhl. Bonnie is the CEO and Founder of Archer and Olive, a luxury stationery brand with a focus on wellbeing and mental health. She is also the Co-Owner and Co-Founder of Aluma, a company focusing on mental wellness workbooks for mothers to make time for themselves in motherhood. After her own diagnosis of bipolar disorder and general anxiety disorder, Bonnie has dedicated her businesses to helping others with their mental wellness, developing innovative products that inspire people to be creative.

I would say I’ve always been a creative and art-focused person. In high school and college, I would scrapbook and create for fun. However, when I got into college my relationship with art and creativity changed. After a worrying time with my health during college, I was ultimately diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder. Following my diagnosis, I used art as a tool to keep my mood stable, organize my thoughts, reduce my anxiety, and take control of my mental health.

During this time, I felt no companies were creating the high-quality journal products I needed, particularly with focus on mental wellness. Therefore, I set out to create this to help others achieve their goals, exercise their creativity and provide them with the tools to manage their mental health. Soon after, Archer and Olive was created!

Very recently, I co-founded a second business, Aluma. I was led to this, as being a mother and a business owner myself, I found that it was really difficult to make time just for me. Therefore, we created Aluma to give mothers the tool to explore themselves, and make time for things they have left behind in motherhood such as art and creativity to entrepreneurship. I look forward to seeing where this new adventure leads.

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

The one in most recent memory is when we had $140k worth of inventory stolen from our store via a bad coupon code. We had a vulnerability in one of our coupon code generation apps and one of our former affiliates used it to get 100% off their cart. They took advantage of this vulnerability to order THOUSANDS of books, pens and stickers. The warehouse literally shipped PALLETS to their house. Luckily the warehouse and our supply chain manager caught it so we could reverse most of it. We reached out to the person to give them the benefit of the doubt. Turns out they thought it was just “a good deal”. Sometimes really wild things happen!

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?

There was a time when we started using a 3PL (third party logistics) company to do our shipping. We had grown a bit too much to be packing boxes in our home, so we thought we’d just move them there. Not long after that, we had an older woman who bought our notebook write in to tell us that she received the wrong package. It turns out she received an adult toy by mistake from the warehouse! Of course, we had a good laugh about that, but ultimately that kind of flipped a switch in my head: we’re playing in a different league now… put barcodes on the boxes, pay more attention to detail, and manage your vendors to keep up customer experience. People are less likely to give you “startup grace” when you’ve grown up a bit. But it did also highlight that we had done well with customer service since then, because the woman understood and also had a laugh.

I’m in EO (Entrepreneurs Organization) in Austin, which is probably one of the best decisions I’ve made professionally. Through EO I was connected with John Ratliff, currently of Align5. In a call with him about the company, he said one of the most common pieces of advice for what some might call “accidental entrepreneurs” is: Get a Line of Credit, Get a CFO, Watch your Cash Flow. Finance in business is not my strength, so this was important to hear. As long as money was coming in and we could pay bills I was like “great!”, but I wasn’t thinking about the strategy of money, how to use debt as a tool, and outsourcing the idea of all of that. Several months later I hired a CFO and re-oriented our financial strategy and I feel much more confident about our books and the longevity of our business. As opposed to before when it was just month to month.

Patriarchal society still exists. Men being in positions of influence with investing and banking. The good ole boys club.

Just getting directly to the point, I think middle-aged white men still hold decision making positions in all the relevant places that forge successful companies: Banks, Venture Capital, Funds and Nonprofits dedicated to business, etc. This isn’t to say they don’t choose to invest in female owned companies, but they certainly see it differently than another woman or person of color would.

We tend to like to work with people who make us comfortable, and we are comfortable with people who are more like us. That’s just how humans work. And when there are all of one type at the top, for the most part, that’s who is shaking hands all the time.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

Having women and people of color be elected, promoted, or hired into decision making positions in investment, higher education, and Fortune 500 companies is another good step. We have made big strides preparing young women and girls to be anything the boys can be. It’s time we prepare the corporate leadership and higher education environments for them to thrive by creating success stories and high-level connections for them.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

First of all, women are more than half the population on earth. Many of the people selling to those women are men. It seems intuitive that we could get a lot more women selling to women out there and have far more wins for women financially and otherwise. In the process we may discover great new ways to think or market because of the diversity.

The conversation around Pink Tax is something I’d like to hear more about as well. Having more women founders out there I think could broaden that discussion more, as when it comes to business, it gets really muddy really fast. Again, adding diversity to our business leadership helps us to see things differently.

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

I hate when people say you have to have a thick skin, as if showing emotion or a softer side is a weakness. It’s ok to get hurt about something, get back up and do it again. Being resilient and having thick skin are not the same.

One thing I can’t stand to hear is “you need to have a thick skin to start a business”. You absolutely do not. I have a thin skin; I get upset. But here I am. Bringing a softer side to running a business is a huge multiplier for us also. It helps us build care for people into our customer service and our people and culture. It also makes sure that in business deals we find a spot where both people are happy, and not just lean on capitalist ideals to gain the edge. In a world where customers care about softness but most leaders don’t, I think the thin-skins have a distinct advantage.

Certainly not. The one thing I can point to is passion or obsession. If you feel this deep in your soul for something, and you have for some time, you should consider whether you should start a business. If, however, you really love the craft of what you do but feel like the stuff happening on the top sounds like a lot of extra, then maybe continue doing your regular job until you feel otherwise.

It’s not so clear cut to me to say there is a “person who should’’ and a “person who shouldn’t”. We are changing all the time, and there may be a time in your life where you feel it’s right, and a time where it’s not. The important thing is to try when you feel the time is right, and learn from it.

Customer Obsession. Intimately knowing your audience and understanding your niche, your community and the connections you create when you sell your products are critical to the “thrive” elements of your business. To thrive as a Woman Founder however it requires you to be vulnerable and de-stigmatize “doing it all” being obsessed with your customers and your business, doesn’t mean that you do not take time for yourself too. For example, I personally share my vulnerable moments with my customers. Following this, many customers have reached out to share their experiences, and I believe it fosters a stronger connection and community.
Flexibility/Adaptability. Making sure you are always agile and able to adapt to changing markets, circumstances and being flexible when schedules and time frames do not work in your favor. We’ve definitely had to adapt in the past year with increasing manufacturing and shipping times delaying product launches, and navigate how to continue hitting targets when this happens.
Figure-it-out-iveness. By this I mean don’t let hard problems make you throw your hands up. You need to be able to figure out what it will cost to do it and make the decision. While it can lead to hard decisions, not being proactive in difficult situations just prolongs the problem. The problem is not going to fix itself, so be ready to find and execute a solution. When I tell other friends and business owners that we make our own paint pens at Archer and Olive, they are usually blown back with how complicated it sounds. And you know what? It was! I just remember thinking about the result, and only the result, when we started. I drew out, in my notebook, a picture of what I wanted and took a picture to send to some potential manufacturers. What followed were ten-thousand questions about molds and dimensions and ink, etc. It’s easy for a big picture thinker to throw their hands up at that point. But we just kept answering questions, most of which we didn’t at first have an answer to. I took a measuring tape and wrote dimensions for the barrels of the pen on my drawing and sent it back. After a big check, we had a mold made to specifications in a notebook. Then we emailed some people about ink, which we also had no idea about. The same thing happened. They asked questions, we did our best to answer or read and figure it out. The result is probably our most popular product. We knew nothing about any of that at the beginning, we just had to figure it out and keep our eyes out to the end.
Decisiveness — Following on from figure-it-out-iveness, when you have made a decision, do not dwell on it. Sometimes you will realize later down the line you were wrong and there were better ways to fix that problem, and you’re going to have to fix it. However, dwelling on the problem will only prevent you from developing and evolving. To elaborate on our previous story, the Acrylograph Pens simply wouldn’t have happened if we stopped to mull everything over for a week. We had to figure out the best way to move forward with information we had and go. Lots of business people talk about time being money and you just have to do the simplest thing to get started, and all of that is 100% right. But honestly, what drives me in these things is my stubbornness to get some products on my desk to play with. A confession: I’m not always thinking about the numbers, the time, the critical path… I’m thinking about how impatient I am to have this new thing! It’s the passion that drives decisions for me. When we are approached by 20 vendors for the pens or given a bunch of options for the barrels of the pens, we just picked one and moved on. Sure, we could evaluate everything, but again, we had our eyes out to the end of the project and wanted to get there as quickly and surely as possible.
Discipline — Finally, to thrive and succeed you need to be disciplined. By this I mean simply see something through as best you can. This one really comes down to making sure what you are doing is something you care about. You could really be driven for it because of income, but also for love, or change. Make sure that what you’re doing aligns with your personal values. This is how you squeeze every drop from the discipline you put in when you sit down to make magic happen. For me, I have always just loved making art. Archer & Olive is about helping other people do better through their art. The business part is about making beautiful things and selling them. Sitting down in the morning and being given the opportunity to design something or draw something and turn it into something that other people will use for their own benefit is my “secret” to discipline; I love the making part so it gives me the boost as a strategic advantage.

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

We focus heavily on mental health. We’ve even shifted from being an art brand to being a mental health brand recently. As part of this we donate to lots of charities to make our products available to people who can’t afford them but feel they can grow from it. In the past this has included students in foster care, women in safe shelters, hospitalized children and their families and trans youth.

We also make it a strategic initiative to spotlight and collaborate with artists from underrepresented communities. Giving people a platform via Archer and Olive has been very rewarding.

The ultimate goal for me is ending the stigma around mental health. Mental health is nothing to be ashamed of, nor is it something to shame people about. In more metropolitan communities, awareness is growing, but there are lots of communities where different types of mental health problems still marginalize people and it makes it hard for people (like me) to get ahead. I wish the resources I had in college could be made available to everyone with an illness.

This may not be the answer you’re looking for but, I’ve always wanted to have a sit down with Jack Black. If I’m asked who I want to have a meal with I want to laugh and talk about interesting stories. I’m sure I could learn of a connection or two, but I want to have fun. From everything I read he seems like an approachable, down to earth guy who could deliver on that!

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

Female Founders: Bonnie Kuhl On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Maha Harper of ATLAS On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman…

Female Founders: Maha Harper of ATLAS On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

As founders, it easy to fall in love with your product. What we learned is that it’s much more important to fall in love with the customers’ problems and how to solve them.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Maha Harper.

Maha is one of the Founders at ATLAS Group London, a technology company focused on the digitisation of the construction sector. Maha has twenty-three years’ experience as a corporate lawyer in private practice and in-house roles specialising in cross-border commercial transactions — with a focus on the real estate and medical services industry.

I probably have what you would call an “indirect” route to the tech world. My background is a legal one with a focus on the real estate and medical services industry. I started out in private practice but really liked my in-house roles better, as I really enjoyed the business side of things especially being part of the company’s business team.

My co-founder is the technical visionary for ATLAS and has been building hospitals all over the world for the last 20 years. In 2014, we were part of a Gates Foundation/Qatar Foundation/United Nations led initiative in Northern Kenya to build schools and healthcare clinics in the Kakuma community. We met with local stakeholders there to understand the challenges first-hand, and our mission was to present a detailed assessment to funding bodies.

It became clear to us that while funding bodies are committed to supporting positive interventions, and are ready to provide financing, they were really discouraged by previous projects that essentially cost too much and took too long. And that’s really where the idea behind ATLAS was born.

We thought: What if we could offer stakeholders a solution that went a long way in putting “four corners” around both time and cost when it came to delivering healthcare facilities?

If we could somehow make the project delivery process on a healthcare construction project more efficient — by interconnecting the design, procurement, and construction processes, saving both time and money in the process — then funding bodies would be far more likely to finance these positive initiatives. And given that 50% of the world’s population don’t have access to adequate healthcare services, there seemed to be a real need to do just that! So our idea really grew from there.

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

I have learned tons, but I’ll share what I learned about being an effective empathetic leader. And how sometimes our strengths can also be a weakness. I’m a big advocator of mental health and being compassionate, and in applying that to our startup I discovered how that can go right and how it can go very wrong.

It went right with our culture. I strive to lead by example in admitting when I’m in a funk, have made mistakes, or if I need a break. By being honest about that, we believe we’ve made a closer and more reliable team. We all work hard, and it’s important to discuss things like burnout openly and get support from each other. The way it went wrong was when I applied that empathy to things like hiring and firing. I was too accommodating in giving more chances and shied away from delivering harsh feedback. It took a couple of negative hiring experiences to realize that it was, unintuitively, one of the least compassionate things I could do. If you’re going to be accepting of people, you have to trust that they’ll accept your view of them and have a discussion. If they can’t do that, then it’s an easy choice what to do next.

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

I now know why investors like to invest in startups with founders who have done this before! That’s because they know there are so many pitfalls and having someone there who has “done it before” is definitely helpful.

Having said that, there is nothing like “first-hand” experience to really help bring lessons home. Things like not always following my gut feeling (a mistake I don’t make anymore), underestimating the value of failure, getting frustrated when someone didn’t understand what or why we were building what we’re building — all great lessons.

But if you’re looking for something funny, I became somewhat of a running joke (in the nicest way possible of course!) amongst some of my friends — as at some point, I couldn’t really separate myself from the company. When I would meet up with people for lunch or coffee we would end up spending tons of time talking about the company and the challenges we were facing. After a while, I started answering the question “how are you?” with an update on the company. This caused a diffusion of identity between Maha the person and Maha the entrepreneur. Which was the cause of some well-placed good-natured ribbing from friends!

I now describe my coming to terms with this as the difference between the company being “me” to the company being “something I love that I’m working on.” It actually makes me more present and gives me the confidence to do great work without feeling that failure on a particular issue equals failure as a person.

When you found a startup, there’s a part of you that expects people, with the right amount of persuasion and convincing, to hop on board and become as excited about your company as you are. This is something that is of course not necessarily true. Throughout the entire process of starting our company, I found that people don’t generally care about it as much as we did. They cared, but just not as much. And that makes sense of course, I mean — why would they? A company will always have a more special meaning to the founders than to the rest. And that’s okay.

The key is getting people excited enough to join you but not to be disappointing if they’re not as into it as you are. I never appreciated how awesome it was that people were choosing to put their time and money into helping us create something. And it’s so important to stop every so often and acknowledge how fortunate you are to have remarkable people spend their most valuable resource — time — helping you bring your vision to life.

And we have been infinitely lucky in that way. Starting first and foremost with our incredible Advisory Board without whose advice, time and effort, we would not be where we are now.

And of course being involved with Oracle for Startups has given us an amazing network of advisers and collaborators within an engine that really understands tech, engineering and the sector we are disrupting.

There is no doubt that there is a very large masculine bias when it comes to entrepreneurial role models, especially when portrayed in the media. Whether or not women are aware of this, the bias has a real effect on their perception of business ownership and can discourage women from entrepreneurship.

This bias of course impacts banks, VC investors and customers’ perceptions of female entrepreneurs. Add on to that, the lack of female entrepreneurial role models and you can start to see why there are fewer women starting companies than men. And of course the challenges (for women in particular) in striking that good work-life balance is another big reason.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

One of the most consistent empirical findings is that childcare arrangements is one of the biggest deterrents for women when it comes to founding their own businesses, both for cost and practicality reasons.

I think we, as a society, really need to make accessible childcare arrangements more of a priority. Starting with employers really, as corporate culture (and how childcare arrangements in the corporate world are perceived) goes a long way in influencing governments on what they can, and should, do to help. Sheryl Sandberg told a great story once about how it should not be more acceptable, for example, for a father to leave work to attend their child’s sporting event, than for a mother who wants to do the same.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

According to the European Commission’s “Women in the Digital Age Study” (2018), startups set up by women performed 63% better than those founded solely by men.

That seems like a pretty good reason to me!

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

I’m sure there are lots of them! Like all founders are bold risk takers, have powerful personalities, etc. My favourite myth though is that founders are lone rangers. It’s much simpler to believe that one person conceives, creates, and sustains success, from start to finish. The reality, however, is much more complicated–and collaborative. There’s no doubt that successful founders know how to think independently and can act apart from the status quo. But being willing to act alone at the start isn’t the same as continuing to stand alone over time; nor does is it count for quite as much in the long run.

In my opinion, the number one trait that you need as a founder is tenacity. You have to be tenacious enough to see things through, ride the highs (and the lows), and in the end, believe that what you are building is not only needed, but matters. But you also need to be wise enough to know when to let go, pivot, etc. It’s a fine balance.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

As founders, it easy to fall in love with your product. What we learned is that it’s much more important to fall in love with the customers’ problems and how to solve them.
Sector experience is so important. You can develop the best technology in the world, but if you don’t understand what the end user needs, wants, and will actually use, then you’re just building great tech instead of delivering that “must have” solution for customers.
Tenacity
The ability to take on (and really listen to) people who don’t believe or criticize what you’re doing.
Follow your gut.

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

50% of the world’s population do not have access to adequate healthcare services. There is a massive need to expand healthcare infrastructure globally. We believe that offering solutions in both technology and design will enhance the capacity of health service delivery, reduce costs, and deepen the reach of healthcare services around the world

Better access to healthcare globally.

Sheryl Sandberg — because she’s Sheryl!

James Dyson — because he worked on 5, 127 failed prototypes before he hit the jackpot.

Elon Musk — because he ran out of money when funding SpaceX, Tesla and Solar City and I’d love to hear about his lessons learned.

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

Female Founders: Maha Harper of ATLAS On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Brittany Greenfield of Wabbi On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your…

Female Disruptors: Brittany Greenfield of Wabbi On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Bad news always comes first. Yes, your job is to always be the biggest cheerleader for the company. No, you do not get to have a bad day. This does not mean you need to shroud your bad news in sparkles. Bad news first is not about a glass-half empty mentality, but accepting that this is a tough thing, and knowing that the people who have joined you are working WITH you to make sure there’s more good than bad. It also sets a standard for transparency and normalizes sharing the bad with the good — as a leader, you don’t want to find out on the last day of your quarter that you’re going to miss the number. Lead by example with your investors and employees, and they will reciprocate in kind.

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

Brittany Greenfield is the founder and CEO of Wabbi, which was recently recognized as a 2021 RSA Innovation Sandbox finalist. Wabbi’s Secure DevOps platform enables application security programs to scale across Development teams, to deliver more secure code without sacrificing agility or velocity. From startups to large companies, Brittany realized early on in her career that cyber is fundamental to a modern business’ success. Brittany is a passionate leader who believes DE&I is an unquestionable must-have for today’s businesses. She is also a Member of the Board of Trustees for the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (MassTLC), where she works to make the tech industry accessible to individuals from underrepresented communities. As a woman leading the cybersecurity industry forward, Brittany is committed to paving the way for future generations to follow in her footsteps.

I imagine my path isn’t much different from many other founders. I’ve always been a “path-less-taken” person, having designed my own major at Duke where I looked at how technology drives innovation in legacy industries (at the time I looked specifically at Biotech and Pharma). I took the same approach when I entered the workforce in “The Cloud” at a time when I had to explain to my friends I was not working for The Weather Service. This has carried through my career, as I started in technical implementation roles, before moving into the GTM side of the business with a focus (not surprisingly) on exploring new markets and coming up with plans to tackle them.

As one investor recently pointed out to me, I shouldn’t be surprised that I became a founder as I’ve been identifying problems and coming up with solutions my entire career! Founding Wabbi was really just an extension of what I’ve always done.

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

At a startup, everything is interesting! But the last two years in particular have been the most interesting as we’ve all had to adapt and change amidst a global pandemic. Good and bad, what you learn from a situation and how you grow from it is what matters most.

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?

Becoming a founder is the only career path you take to fail 99% of the time. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned veteran, you can’t get hung up on mistakes, all you can do is learn from them and laugh along the way. Especially starting out, you need to admit that you won’t know what you’re doing all the time. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re doing something wrong! You can’t work in a vacuum and avoid all of the potential risks, you must take chances and surround yourself with people who will learn alongside you. I’m a big believer in post mortems to discuss what we’ve done well and what we could have done better, so that we’re constantly learning and improving.

A general lesson I’ve learned as a founder is to not be afraid of being vulnerable. I heard this bit of wisdom from two people early on, and while I initially disregarded it, it’s been immensely impactful in my development. Vulnerability is about opening up so you can leverage the people you surround yourself with. Nobody is looking for anything in return — if you’ve surrounded yourself with the right people, they’re doing it because somebody once did it for them.

Most days as a founder are difficult and you’ll need someone to talk to who has your interest and your company’s interest at heart. One of Wabbi’s first investors once said to me “I don’t know what has possessed you, but I’m infected with it!” and he’s been one of my greatest supporters. Especially in the last year, it’s important to not be afraid to lean on those that you’ve brought

This data frustrates me. There isn’t anything holding women (or other underrepresented groups) back from founding companies — rather there are institutional issues holding them back from succeeding at founding companies. Despite the fact that female founded and led companies are proven to have higher exits and better profitability, in the current environment female founders are facing a losing proposition by starting a company.

The pandemic was exemplary of these conditions as in the face of another record VC funding year, funding in female-founded companies decreased, which demonstrates that we still haven’t fixed the structural issues that increases in female-founder investments had cloaked over the last years. When the numbers and the environment look so discouraging, it’s no wonder women don’t want to found a company. And I don’t blame them.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

This is not just about the dollars to support more female founders, but the institutional and systemic support. We need more investors who are willing to disrupt the status quo. At Wabbi, I’ve been lucky to find these partners, and sometimes it’s also meant saying “No” to the ones that I believed were part of the problem, not the solution.

And investors aren’t just VCs — there are a lot of opportunities out there for funding, we just need to align them with today’s standards. For example, at Wabbi we’ve been awarded a SBIR, which was a great opportunity not just for funding, but also access to a new customer base. That said, the process of applying and continuing is very much based in the world of grants, which most business leaders are not familiar with. This creates a lot of fits and starts that can become distractions for the business. Similarly, while the SBA has a loan program, it is not tailored for the kinds of businesses that require technology investments ahead of revenue, which requires founders to seek out expensive capital from traditional investors early on. If we want to be a country that drives innovation across all groups and industries, we need to make sure there is equal access to the capital to do that across all sources.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

In my point of view, it’s not just about more women becoming founders, but more underrepresented groups becoming founders. There are a lot of problems out there and a lot of perspectives on how to solve them, which requires leadership from a variety of different backgrounds and experiences. We need to avoid a linear path of problem solving and that requires more minority founders. As Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” More diversity means better problem solving.

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

Whether reading your morning paper or watching shows like Silicon Valley, the idea of founding a company has become glamorized and deified. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s not. Being a founder is the hardest work you will ever do, but it can also be the most rewarding.

It’s also not about sitting in a garage head down trying to create the perfect product, but getting out there and talking to people. You have to stay ahead of a lot of moving pieces constantly : market dynamics, what’s top of mind for customers and employees, what could put you out of business. It also means knowing when you need to bring others in to build out your team. You might try, but you can’t do it all yourself and you shouldn’t! Good founders may have swiss army knife capabilities, but great founders know how to hire to fill the gaps.

“Founder” is an abstract concept. Everyone has the opportunity to be a founder, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a founder of the next unicorn. It’s a mindset, not a specific job: it could be being the founder of an initiative within an existing business or the founder of a local mentoring program. At the end of the day, Founders want to start something new and are willing to take risks. If you don’t want to investigate problems and go through a lot of trial and error to come up with a solution, then being a Founder isn’t for you.

You don’t know what you don’t know. People like to talk about a “growth mindset,” which is important, but I think as a founder you need to be thinking with a “lesson mindset.” That is, thinking about what you can learn from every situation, good or bad, to continue improving and growing, and asking for help when you need it.
You can’t do everything. Founders tend to have a knack for being a swiss army knife, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a specialty. Your time as a founder is the most precious thing you have. Of course at the start, to be capital efficient you need to leverage that special jack-of-all-trades skill, but as you grow the company, hire for your holes so you can keep your time and attention where you can make the biggest impact. This may feel like the scariest and most selfish approach because you think you should do it to save a buck just because you are capable of the task, but it’ll be the biggest ROI of any investment you make.
Work with the people who are going to push you. Sometimes this might mean pushing your buttons, but it’s not malicious. People who push you are going to make you think in different ways and even more importantly, they’re only pushing you because they know you can take it and it’s going to make the company better at the end of the day.
Being a founder is a 24/7 job…but don’t work 24/7. You still have to make time for the things that are important to you, whether it’s a hobby, involvement in your community, or just time with your friends and family. There’s become a glorification that to succeed in a startup, you have to “hustle” every hour of every day. But there are no overnight successes (no matter how it may seem in the media). When it takes on average 7–10 years for a successful exit, you can’t hustle non-stop for that long and be a productive leader. You don’t see top athletes playing their sport day in and day out — they take recovery, sometimes it’s active recovery, sometimes it’s sitting on the couch. If you’re going to be a successful founder, don’t forget to still do you.
Bad news always comes first. Yes, your job is to always be the biggest cheerleader for the company. No, you do not get to have a bad day. This does not mean you need to shroud your bad news in sparkles. Bad news first is not about a glass-half empty mentality, but accepting that this is a tough thing, and knowing that the people who have joined you are working WITH you to make sure there’s more good than bad. It also sets a standard for transparency and normalizes sharing the bad with the good — as a leader, you don’t want to find out on the last day of your quarter that you’re going to miss the number. Lead by example with your investors and employees, and they will reciprocate in kind.

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

I’m still in the aspirational phase of “how to make the world a better place.” Of course, I know Wabbi has an impact that leaves the world a better place in the realm of cybersecurity and DevOps, but as an individual I often think about how I too will leave a legacy. It was one of the unexpected things that came with being a founder as the more constrained my time became, the more intentional I have become in how I spend it on the activities that would have the greatest impact.

It’s not about being a philanthropist, but rather how I dedicate my time to the communities I believe in. And for me that ranges from my alma mater to The Boston Ballet to the local Tech Community to my Shul. Startups aren’t the only thing that’s going to change the world, individuals are! Continuing to participate in and support the communities that matter to you is a great way founders can help make the world a better place, while building a successful company that will also leave its own mark.

I view wealth creation as a driver of equality. We need to find better ways to support underrepresented entrepreneurs. Wealth creation has been directly tied to not just economic growth, but also significant educational and cultural growth, which are seen as the main drivers of achieving parity. Microloans are an example of a movement that has been able to rapidly and successfully drive these changes abroad — why aren’t we looking at how we can bring these kinds of programs — and their benefits — to our own shores?

Mary Barra. I once read an interview where she mentioned a car is 30,000 parts you’re putting together, and I think a startup is no different. I suspect I’d learn a lot from having a conversation with somebody who manages a team that brings together 30,000 parts 18,000 times a day. And she’s my personal J.Lo.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

Female Disruptors: Brittany Greenfield of Wabbi 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.

Marlo Richardson of Business Bullish: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a…

Marlo Richardson of Business Bullish: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or CBD Business

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Hire people you trust. I don’t think the cannabis industry is one where you just look at a resume and say they look great, let’s hire them. I have found that the better my team is, the better we do. I actually recruited everyone that works for me. It’s like getting an American Express Black Centurion Card, you can’t apply you are chosen.

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 Marlo Richardson.

Marlo Richardson is known as a dynamic leader, business professional and as someone who has made her mark in many industries. She is a regular disrupter, often carrying the title “First African American Woman to”. Marlo has been a Keynote Speaker, business advisor, and is often invited to speak with local business groups and universities regarding her personal story and experiences in the business world.

After working in law enforcement Richardson decided she wanted more financial freedom and to be her own boss. She transitioned out of working the traditional 9–5, overcoming various hurdles in the process and took a leap of faith into entrepreneurship.

Richardson has owned business franchises, restaurants, a home health care agency, a real estate investment company, insurance agency, retail clothing, travel agency, security company, production company, distribution company, manufacturing company, marketing company and has created several successful brands. Currently she focuses on real estate, crypto, is one of the few license holders to grow and operate a cannabis grow op and is a financial expert advisor.

She is the founder of Business Bullish, a website and resource that seeks to train people in the areas of financial literacy and entrepreneurship. She is a dynamic business woman and leader and is also a keynote speaker and business advisor who shares with local businesses her success stories in hopes that they can replicate her growth.

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

I grew up wanting a career in law enforcement and began working in that field when I was 20 years old. I was overly ambitious and got promoted quickly. By twenty-two, I was a Sergeant and supervised over 90 alpha type personalities carrying guns. I had engulfed myself into leadership and management classes and felt very confident that I could do more. As my experience in leadership grew, I also developed some very critical skills class such as being timely and organized. I was single, had no children and began to consider my options on how to avoid the hefty taxes that I was responsible for paying. I started investing in real estate. After my first deal, I was hooked. I had made what was my annual law enforcement salary in 3 months with zero manual labor and a minimal investment. I was able to duplicate that process 8 more times and started to explore other areas to invest in.

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?

After buying several income properties, I decided it was time to purchase my own home. I was 22 years old, had a baby face and had become somewhat fearless in the business world as things were somehow just working out for me. I bought a house in a nice area of LA and started to remodel it. I had the kitchen constructed down to the studs and had to eat out daily. I would walk down the hill to a restaurant near the beach. On my second visit I saw a man in a suit and thought he must be the owner. I engaged him in conversation and told him that I’d always thought of owning a restaurant and bar. He told me that he managed the business, but that the real owner was looking to sell it. He arranged a meeting the next day and the rest was history.

What I learned from that encounter was that you never know what can happen by simply being unafraid to talk to people and ask sometimes difficult questions.

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?

After buying the restaurant and bar, I wanted to learn every aspect of my business so I would hang around the kitchen and try to learn the receipts and how to operate the kitchen equipment and make drinks at the bar whenever I could, except I didn’t know how to make drinks. Customers would ask for specific cocktails, I would ask which liquor is in that drink and make them a Marlo creation. It worked most of the time, but on occasion I had customers that were very particular and would guide me pour by pour. That is how I learned to bartend. But the lesson learned for me was, I don’t need to know how to do it all. I need to be unafraid to mess it up not embarrassed by being corrected.

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

I have a passion project right now called BUSINESS BULLISH. It’s a free resource online where I’ve created blogs, vlogs, and a podcast designed to help future entrepreneurs and current entrepreneurs with everything from funding, finance, building teams and investing. This idea was birthed as a result of all the questions I’d receive from people I’ve mentored over the years. It’s really difficult to find time, but because I want to help others I thought these platforms would work given people can watch or listen on their own time and at their own pace.

In 2018 my mother had a rough year and ended up having full hip replacement surgery. Prior to the surgery, nothing doctors prescribed managed her pain without having bee under the influence of heavy narcotics. A friend of mine gave me CBD creams and ointments that she would rub on her hip and often have immediate relief without the narcotic effects. I started to learn more about the cannabis industry and the truth behind the plant, opposed to what I was spoon fed in the police academy. The fact is, similar to aloe vera. It has healing elements and many people have benefited from its use. I started a cannabis and CBD brand called Just Mary. I hope to get it into retail stores in 2022.

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?

Again I’d have to thank my mother. When I was twelve she allowed me to have a joint checking account with her and didn’t put her name on the check. It gave the appearance that I had my own account, which essentially it was. I would work, deposit money and write checks for things I wanted. She taught me how to balance my checkbook and to not spend money that I didn’t have. That was the foundation of me understanding finances and being able to manage both money and credit, essentials in the business world.

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

Right now it doesn’t get any better than social media. The cannabis industry has so many rules and restrictions on how and where you can market. The best thing that I’ve found is to use people that support and believe in your brand and have them support it.

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

What excites me is the innovation in the grow techniques that allow the plants to grow more rapidly without the use of chemical products. The future of consumption lounges that allow people to partake in social settings and the creative ways that manufacturers have created products so that people who do not smoke can still get medicated through topicals, tinctures and edibles.

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.

Be very selective of who you do business with. Being unfamiliar with the legal cannabis market, people with try to manipulate and take advantage of you.
Do your homework. Again people will try to take advantage of you, if they don’t think you know any better.
Align yourself with people that are doing a good job and representing quality in the industry. There is a lot of money to be made and there are many unscrupulous people that will tell you they have the ability to make things happen.
Work with people that are reputable. That’s very similar to what I said above, but it’s that serious that I don’t mind rewording it to say it again. There are large companies and professional organizations that are preying on people with limited knowledge and resources. I’ve seen licensee’s partner with people and get almost zero percent of their business although there are regulations in place.
Hire people you trust. I don’t think the cannabis industry is one where you just look at a resume and say they look great, let’s hire them. I have found that the better my team is, the better we do. I actually recruited everyone that works for me. It’s like getting an American Express Black Centurion Card, you can’t apply you are chosen.

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

Train them right and trust them. If you do your job upfront (security measures, processes and procedures) let the employees do the work without being overbearing and micromanaging.

Don’t be afraid to invest in people. A lot of people have really great ideas and they just lack the business sense of putting it together. If you are a person that has a good business sense, it’s OK to partner with someone that just has great ideas. I did a few years in law school, so I believe in having a good contract, and making sure that the details are clear and specific. Then I’m ready to work.

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

Instagram @MsMarloNicole

Facebook at Marlo Richardson

Twitter @IamMarloNicole

YouTube Marlo Nicole Business Bullish

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

Thank you for the opportunity.

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

Female Founders: Veera Johnson of Circulor On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a…

Female Founders: Veera Johnson of Circulor On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Make uncertainty your best friend. Being a founder comes with a huge bag of unknowns, and you will get thrown all sorts of curve balls. Find mentors and coaches that have walked that journey, and ask for their advice and help in dealing with these curve balls.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Veera Johnson the Co-Founder of Circulor.

Veera has held a number of senior and executive positions in the worlds of finance, TMT and management consulting, has been named the Asian Business Woman of the Year and profiled by the FT as a technology leader. As an entrepreneur and business leader she has been instrumental in challenging and shaping the supply chain and traceability revolution.

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 career path?

I have always been instilled with a sense of business and entrepreneurship from a very early age, thanks to my father, who arrived in the UK in the early 1960’s to build a future for him and his family. I started off working in a superstore and progressed over the years from working in the public sector in economic development and regeneration, through to management consulting, specializing in IT and Infrastructure. I think I truly found my calling when I was able to bring all of this experience together in order to found and build Procserve, an e-commerce business, which was successfully sold in 2015. This gave me the skills, knowledge, and competence to establishing Circulor with my co-founder. Neither of us would be here without all of our previous experiences, mistakes and knowledge learnt to make this work. Being involved in a business with a profit for purpose mission drives me to want to contribute more back to clients and colleagues.

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

My colleagues will laugh at me for this, but I have learnt over the course of pitching Circulor at events, to clients and stakeholders, how exciting learning and talking about a battery can be and especially the impact they can and are having on climate action!

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?

My funniest moment was when I was helping my father set up his retail store. It might be a cliché, but he taught me the value of pricing a tin of canned beans. I was pricing up with him and he asked me if I knew how much they cost and what I could sell them for. I just assumed that I should divide the case of 12 by the cost price. How wrong was I! I was told sharply — what about the cost of transportation, the overhead costs of the premises, time that we are were spending on the business and most importantly profit! I don’t think I ever looked back from that.

Michael O’Higgins, my ex-boss at PA consulting, a mentor and now friend. He taught me how to believe in myself and my capability. I still remember the day that he encouraged me to put in a proposal for an economic development project that I had prepared and the advice /coaching he gave me was that ‘if you think you can deliver it well and within the price you have quoted, then it’s your responsibility if it works or does not work!”. Thankfully it worked and it gave me the confidence to continue to believe in my gut instinct of what is right and wrong, not just with clients, but also in building teams and so much more.

Whilst there has been so much great progress over the last decade to find ways to support women founders and entrepreneurs, there is so much more that is still holding women back. Some of this is from our innate way of not acknowledging our own achievements. How many times do we see women leaders taking about their business achievements with ‘I’ instead of ‘we’?

Too often this narrative is endorsed for example with a myriad of challenges, all the way from raising funding, which in itself is a challenging process, to the lack of genuine support networks and being taken seriously. To add to the challenge of creating and growing a business, women also have the challenge of juggling basic things in life such as supporting children, family and spouses. Having a true environment of support from all of those who surround the founder are critical. This is true for male and female founders alike. It’s just unfortunate that women founders have got it tougher, the odds are stacked against us.

But to be a successful founder, and there are so many great female founder leaders, I believe that remaining true to yourself and finding your own voice are key to rising above, sometimes, your own narrative.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

I genuinely believe that there is no single answer or formulae to this. Being a founder is hard anyway! But the key thing for female founders is the need for genuinely supportive networks of mentors and coaches, who have gone through or are going through the journey themselves. I would call it ‘leaders by example.’

There also has to be a mixture of different support frameworks available for women, and indeed male founders. From when you first came up with the founding idea, to setting up the business, hiring your first team, to scaling the business, there are very different challenges involved and very different needs, both for the business and its founder(s) as they both grow and evolve. These could be fellow entrepreneurs, investors, accelerators, or programs like our partner Oracle for Startups.

We also need a consistent environment in which the founders operate to be aligned. All too often political polices such as taxation, incentives and grants are not aligned with the work of local business networks and mentors and with what a business actually needs to thrive. Also fund-raising is very hard work, but the stage at which an investor is willing to invest is at odds with when a business truly needs funding — all too often we see investors being risk averse and asking for a certain amount of revenue or certain milestones to be met before they are even willing to consider the business pitch. By then the entrepreneur has already taken the risk and proven the market-fit of their solution. We need to find ways of encouraging investors to move to new models/criteria for investing.

We also need to learn to be kinder to female founders — we are women, we are proud and we are capable. First of all, though, we need to believe this ourselves.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

Women are great founders and leaders. By our very nature we are supportive, enabling and team focused, which means that we have the innate skills and aptitudes required to build great foundations for successful businesses.

We are seeing so many examples of female founders behind some of the world’s biggest start-ups. Despite the evident funding gap between male and female entrepreneurs, we also see that startups founded and co-founded by women are significantly better financial investments.

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

One of the biggest myths is that the founder is typically a young person who has just come up with a change the world idea and has generated a mass of wealth in a short space of time! In real life the process of transforming an idea into a profitable product or service is messy and unpredictable and often requires lots of iterations and testing for market fit and pricing. Some of the more successful founders have also been in business, and had careers, and it’s this experience that has helped them to be successful.

The myth is that founders are bold risk takers. Yes, founders do take risks–by definition, that’s what entrepreneurship requires. But few successful founders take unnecessary risks, they take calculated and careful risks, they don’t blindly go into business with just an idea. They will have spent time and effort in exploring it, testing their ideas, before they make the leap.

The final myth is the successful founders are lone rangers. That’s simply not true. They might have started with the idea but they will have surrounded themselves with a team of people who can help them turn that idea into a reality. Being willing to act alone at the start isn’t the same as continuing to stand alone over time.

A desire to pursue their passion is one of the main reasons most people step into the world of entrepreneurship. This could be born out of frustrations with their existing environment, whether that be career or a gap in the market that they believe needs to filled or purely seeking financial independence and flexibility in their lives.

Whilst this might be the starting point of their decision to become an entrepreneur, to be successful they need to be adaptable. Nothing ever goes to plan in a startup, so you constantly have to adapt and refine, and you also need persistence and hard work — it not an easy journey, and it takes a lot of hard work. Finally, the most important is vision — you have to know exactly what you want and not be afraid of taking risks.

It’s this latter trait that drives the difference between people who are willing to take risks and be a successful founder and those who decide that it’s not for them and prefer the security of a regular job.

It takes a certain type of person who is bold enough to believe in their idea and vision that they are prepared to risk everything!

Firstly, we need to address our ‘confidence complex.’ It’s in our nature to “internalize and personalize” our feelings, which means that we often convince ourselves of all the reasons from why we will not secure funding, or why we won’t be successful or be a leader. I’ve learnt to accept this vulnerability, recognise when it happens and then use it in a more positive way.

Second, you aren’t always going to be consistently high energy. You will have some days that you are on fire and everything goes your way and other days when you feel like you’re hitting a brick wall. When this happens, remember to take a deep breath and start the next day and press reset.

Third, make uncertainty your best friend. Being a founder comes with a huge bag of unknowns, and you will get thrown all sorts of curve balls. Find mentors and coaches that have walked that journey, and ask for their advice and help in dealing with these curveballs.

Fourth, don’t be afraid of hiring people that are more talented than you. They come with bags of experience and ideas. It might feel scary, but in the long run you will be glad that you did, and you might learn a lot from too!

Lastly, communication. The founders who are successful are great at using communication to build passion in their business, energise and motivate teams and build a brand, internally and externally.

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

I came out of semi-retirement to co-found Circulor. The mission and vision of the business is to make the worlds’ most complex supply chains transparent and in doing so provide businesses with an understanding of their manufacturing and recycling supply chains, so that they can make empowered decisions about where they source their materials from and reduce Green House Gas emissions. Being involved in a business with such an enabling mission is really powerful, personally energizing and really can make the world a better place. There are so many touch-points that Circulor can and is having, exposing where human rights are being infringed, such as child labour, reducing carbon emissions to help deal with climate action, recycling of critical materials to their virgin state to stop the need for extraction to fuel our energy consumption needs!

That’s a tough one. For me I think it has to be about sharing. My granddaughter is at pre-school, and she came home one day and started talking about ‘sharing is caring.’ Her school was teaching children to share their toys. But actually, there is a much broader truth in it. Sharing knowledge, sharing and teaching skills, sharing information and more importantly sharing success. A company is never successful as a result of one person’s efforts — it’s a team effort!

It has to be President Joe Biden, he has the greatest opportunity to genuinely shape the future of our planet right now.

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

Female Founders: Veera Johnson of Circulor On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Kristin Bartone of Bartone Interiors: 5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Whimsy — Add something whimsical to your space that makes you smile every time you look at it. This could be anything from your grandmother’s sewing machine (used as a side table) that brings back happy childhood memories, or your children’s artwork.

As part of my series on the “5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kristin Bartone.

Kristin has over 20 years of experience as a professionally accredited Interior Designer in both residential and commercial design. As a young girl, her interest in design details was ignited while working by her father’s side in his furniture making studio. Along with being a Registered Interior Designer and NCIDQ certificate holder, Kristin is a LEED Accredited Professional by the US Green Building Council, has received the Design for Sensory Wellbeing certificate from the American Society of Interior Designers and is a Certified Color Specialist.

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

My passion for design started by following my father around his custom woodworking studio when I was 7 years old, looking for scraps of wood and metal to create my own sculptures. Growing up in a family of 7, we always needed an extra bedroom or bathroom, so we renovated every home we lived in. Experiencing that transformation of space firsthand planted the seeds for my passion for interior design.

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

There have been quite a few exceptional experiences over the past 20+ years, but I’ll try to pick the most interesting one. I think the one I recall the most was an interview with a large, well respected architecture firm in Washington DC. The partner I interviewed with kept me for over 2 hours, telling me everything that was wrong with my portfolio. At first, I was horrified, I cried the entire drive home. Then I decided to take all the feedback and make my portfolio better and get prepared for the next interview. Tenacity is an imperative virtue in any creative industry. You have to be able to receive feedback and transform it into a positive learning experience to make yourself better.

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

I think the most difficult skill to hone as an interior designer is scale. We want to have impact, and sometimes oversize things, but this can also backfire. Once I specified a 3’ wide chandelier for a 30’ wide dining table. It was way too big and I ended up replacing it before the client even saw it… thanks to a great relationship with the builder! Now that huge chandelier is installed in my foyer!

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

My team is working with an architect on a new commercial building for a well-known auction house. The company has had such explosive growth, their current space is pieced together and unorganized. I’m excited to move them into a new, beautiful building that helps them do their jobs more easily.

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

Measure twice, cut once. I always check measurements multiple times when I am at a client’s home. If I get consistent measurements 3 times a row, I feel confident moving forward!

I credit my father for being continuously supportive of every artistic path I pursued from drama to fine art, fashion design and finally interior design. As a fine wood worker who builds custom furniture, he has an eye for detail and the tenacity to work through complicated details to fulfill his vision.

Thank you for that. Here is the main question of our discussion. What are your “5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

Color — Don’t be afraid of adding color to your space! Color makes us happy by feeling connected with nature. Yellow and green are some of my favorites.

A view — Ideally you want to see into nature, but If you don’t have access to an outdoor environment, bring the outside in through nature inspired patterns or art.

Olfactory input — Sense of smell is a hidden gem that creates more joy in your living space. It is actually part of the limbic system which processes emotion, supports memory formation and is strongly linked to your emotional wellbeing. Do you recall the last hotel you were in and what it smelled like? Light a candle (beeswax or soy to keep your home toxin free!) a La Berger air purifier that both cleans the air and adds a pleasant scent or a Zodax porcelain diffuser.

Mixing patterns — Doing this in the correct scale and adding both linear and organic pairings creates visual interest and activity in your brain. Mixing patterns successfully provides intrigue without being overly busy.

Whimsy — Add something whimsical to your space that makes you smile every time you look at it. This could be anything from your grandmother’s sewing machine (used as a side table) that brings back happy childhood memories, or your children’s artwork.

I’d love to educate people on how they can create spaces that support their physical and emotional wellbeing through green, biophilic and sensory based design solutions.

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 🙂

Corey Damen Jenkins, I have watched his career explode over the past few years and he is such a wonderful role model for hard work and perseverance.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

https://www.instagram.com/bartoneinteriors/ or #bartoneinteriors

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

Kristin Bartone of Bartone Interiors: 5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Terri Vinson of Synergie Skin On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as…

Female Founders: Terri Vinson of Synergie Skin On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

…Trusting that little voice in your head — I have an ability, which I believe most women have, in trusting your gut instincts: when to choose that new active ingredient, when to buy that new mixing machine, when to buy my new premises, when to launch a new product. I always say to my team that I just ‘have a feeling’ I need to launch that new product now, and nine times out of ten the timing is right.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Terri Vinson.

Terri Vinson is a biological scientist and cosmetic chemist who is on a mission to help people feel empowered, informed, and confident when it comes to the health and vitality of their skin. As a scientist and the Founder/Formulator of Australian skincare brand, Synergie Skin, she creates products with evidence-based actives, all in accordance with her trademarked ‘Clean Science’ philosophy of harnessing the best of laboratory-based science and nature, minus the dubious ingredients. Having built her business from the ground up, she has worked tirelessly to create safe and ethical products aimed to protect, change, and nurture the skin for long-term results and optimal dermal health.

Growing up I always had a passion for science so naturally this led me to complete a science degree. I considered pursuing a career in immunology research, but I couldn’t shake my second passion: educating people! I decided to do a post-graduate diploma in teaching secondary school science.

I began my career in my twenties as a secondary science teacher but shortly after realized it wasn’t the right fit for me so moved on to continue my work in science within the skincare industry. I have always had a passion for the science behind beauty and felt the skincare industry was missing two key components:

Empowering consumers with the scientific understanding of their products.
Creating products that did what they said they’d do!

It wasn’t until my forties that I took a leap of faith, emptied my emergency savings, and opened a start-up skin clinic in Melbourne, Australia.

One day while waiting in a cafe for my daughter to come out of a movie theatre, I had a sudden urge to brainstorm, so I began writing out what I could uniquely offer within aesthetics industry. I am a cosmetic chemist, I understand ingredient technology, the skincare needs of women, I am an advocate for clean science (I know the benefits of using both clean and scientifically backed ingredients), and I can take a formulation from inception to shelf. This list gave me a dose of confidence and I became even more determined.

I also came to realize there was a significant gap in the aesthetics market for highly effective, evidence-based active products that were also free of ‘questionable’ ingredients. With my background in biological science and cosmetic chemistry, knowledge of formulating, and a passion for the effect of topical ingredients on the skin cells, Synergie Skin was born with a clean science philosophy at the heart of my business.

During the GFC around 2008, many of my clients could not afford to come to my clinic for treatments, but they always came back for the products I had formulated. This was a light bulb moment for me. I should focus on my ability to formulate and close the clinic. It was then that I gave away my data base to another local skin clinic (good karma I thought!), sold my laser machine, wished my beauty therapists well in their new endeavours and opened my formulating lab in Burwood Melbourne. I was now focused solely on creating products and doing what I was truly meant to do. Everything headed north from that point!

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

I never intended to take my business internationally so early in Synergie Skin’s growth. However, I was introduced to an amazing businesswoman in Hong Kong who shared my passions for science based, clean and effective products. She had just opened her own skin care shop in the Hong Kong CBD area and began with just a couple of my products. Erica is a real mover and shaker in Hong Kong and customers followed her opinions on what works in the aesthetics industry. She was really a pioneer influencer ahead of her time and I knew that she was going to be a leading force and a Synergie Skin advocate. Our businesses grew in parallel and so did our friendship. I am proud to say that she now has multiple outlets in Hong Kong, stocks almost every product I create, and is now Synergie Skin’s biggest single client. I learned to trust my instincts and nurture relationships with like-minded individuals. We are like sisters across the oceans!

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

I decided in Synergie Skin’s third year that it would be a great idea to formulate a perfume that was free of artificial fragrance and phthalates. I had experience in formulating with essential oils and really wanted to create something special. I must have spent the best part of 6 months in the lab and thousands of dollars on raw ingredients (that was a lot back then). I created my fragrance and called it Keala and had a big launch in New South Wales. We used the same distribution channels as we did for our skin care products, skin clinic and salons. Whilst our stockists liked the sweet floral and woody base notes, their clients were seeing them for their skin and not to by perfume. Needless to say, Keala was a royal disaster and all I had to show for it was an overstock of empty perfume bottles in our warehouse.

Lesson learned… when entering a new sector, stick to what you know and a market you truly understand!

One of my close friends asked if she could retail my small range from my Camberwell clinic when I first began Synergie Skin. I had no idea about wholesaling and only felt comfortable selling at my clinic, but something inside me said, ‘Let’s do it!’ It was one on the best decisions I ever made as it was the springboard to then take my range around Australia and later around the world. Incidentally, she is still my dear friend and is my biggest account in North Queensland to this day.

In terms of success along the way I really have to mention my amazing team at Synergie Skin.

It took a lot for me ‘let go’ of certain elements of the business and to purely manage them instead. I was so used to doing everything independently and from scratch. One of my greatest pieces of advice is hire people who are experts in what they do and have a higher skill level than you. A good leader knows when to delegate and how to best leverage their time.
The busier we became the more I knew that I had to invest my time where my strengths lay, in the big picture stuff and in formulating. I built a team around my weaknesses so that we could perfectly complement one another. It has been incredibly rewarding to let go, trust in my team, and observe how the business has evolved and thrived over time.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?

There is great risk in starting your own business and the majority of time spent raising a family still often falls on women. The reasons for the entrepreneurial gap are complex and can range from the cultural stigma of work versus domestic roles, to lower appetite for risk-taking due to lack of support, lack of confidence, or challenges with financial viability.

I was a late bloomer as a business owner. I didn’t start my own business until my 40s after I’d had my two children. Fortunately, this was something I was able to do with my own money. It is so important for women to be financially independent.

I started Synergie Skin with only $40,000 in savings. I thought, “I’m going to start up my own skin clinic, conduct skin consultations and create products that actually work for my clients.” I knew there was a huge gap in the market for what I could offer, and I had the self-confidence and drive to really pursue my passion. With these savings (I used to call this my ‘running away money’), I rented space in Melbourne, did a budget fit out of the skin clinic, called Skinformation, and started my first business. This was the birthplace of Synergie Skin.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

Become an advocate for other women in business and really support each other through any channels you can: social media, networking or just word of mouth.
Join female-networking groups. I am a member of Business Chicks Australia (there is also a branch in the US). I have made great business connections and friends through this group.
Become an advocate or mentor of young women in your industry
I have personally been involved in giving presentations to college and university science students to inspire them to pursue careers like mine
Be aware of the gender gap and create a safe and nurturing working culture for all
Offer flexibility for team members especially for working mothers
Encourage your team members to challenge, grow and learn in their role and give them the confidence to fly.
Give back by supporting smaller female-founded businesses in your everyday shopping and lifestyle choices

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder, but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

I need to be careful here, but here goes…

Female founders have so much to offer. Our brains really are wired differently, and I think we have a greater ability to walk in the shoes of others and negotiate the best outcomes for both parties.
Women are often more motivated by passion than dollars and this trait will, in my opinion, lead to true success in life.
So many products and services cater to the needs of women, so it just makes sense that the founders of these types of businesses are women. I can’t imagine Synergie Skin being formulated and founded by a man… sorry fellas ?

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

Myth 1/ Founders can sit back and watch the dollars roll in

It’s true that the ability to delegate means that you are less involved with the minutia of the business. Being your own boss offers far greater flexibility in working hours but my passion for my business means that I am ‘on’ 24/7. I have never resented my workload, but I am also mindful that I need to balance my love of business with my loved ones.

Myth 2/ Founders lead a glamourous life

It’s certainly not always glamorous. Almost every day I have to wear many hats being pulled in many directions to work on the best outcomes for my business, my team, and my customers. There are sacrifices to your social and family life, but also great rewards in the long run as your business grows.

Myth 3/ All founders on skincare brands are also the formulators

This myth really bothers me as so many founders ‘imply’ they are very involved in creating the formulas. I have done the hard yards of study science and cosmetic chemistry and I know how to create a product from inception to shelf. You not only need to understand how the active ingredients work but you also need to understand all the other supportive ingredients, such as preservatives, emulsifiers, thickeners, and how they work in the final formula. Many skin care founders are not cometic chemists. They are concept developers who convey their ideas to cosmetic chemists. I have no problem with concept developers being founders, just be honest about the level of input you have on the final formula.

Passion over money. The faster you chase money the faster it runs away from you.
Grit and a ‘never give up’ attitude. Problems should be seen as solutions waiting to be uncovered.
Tenacity and wanting to always find a way to solve the challenges you face.
Seeing the big picture and not getting too bogged down in detail.
Understanding that you bear all the responsibility, no matter what happens.
Ability to take financial risk.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need to Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

Find your mark on this earth and calling in life and turn it into a business — When I was 12, I accidentally discovered that I was adopted and while I still had a wonderful relationship with my adoptive mum and dad, I felt a void in not having real roots and genetic links. This may not be the same for every adoptee, but I feel like being adopted can leave someone feeling a little misplaced in the world, and that was certainly true for me. This gave me a uniquely strong drive to ‘make my mark on this earth’
Fight For Your Self-Confidence — I think it’s fair to say that as women we have this constant image of what ‘perfect’ should look like. Often, if we don’t feel like we fit that mold society has put on us, it can be deflating and impact our self-confidence. During my childhood I didn’t shed the ‘puppy pounds’ as quickly as the other kids and was often teased because of my chubby and dowdy appearance. Over a school Christmas break I picked up some basic skincare and nutritional info from an Australian teenage magazine called ‘Dolly’. There was a shift in my appearance but more importantly, I noticed a change in how I felt about myself. I made a concerted effort to feel good in my skin, for myself and not for the approval of others. It was funny how these small changes shifted how others treated me. The same girls who used to tease me suddenly no longer thought of me as a ‘misfit’. And while they may have seen a physical change in my appearance the real change was in my confidence. I truly felt so good in my own skin and better about myself. That’s one of the big drivers in developing Synergie Skin. It’s as much about unleashing inner confidence as the external changes that skincare can bring.
Even in the darkest times, never give up on your calling — It takes true grit to navigate not only your entrepreneurial journey but personal as well. I am not alone in hitting rough patches in my life. During a particular trying time my son said to me “Mum, you’re a creator, and the greatest art comes from the darkest times.” I reframed my thinking and instead of giving up, I realized these challenging times have given me the jump start I needed to do a reset and get on with pursuing my dreams. That’s what you must do as an entrepreneur: pick yourself up and keep going.
Trusting that little voice in your head — I have an ability, which I believe most women have, in trusting your gut instincts: when to choose that new active ingredient, when to buy that new mixing machine, when to buy my new premises, when to launch a new product. I always say to my team that I just ‘have a feeling’ I need to launch that new product now, and nine times out of ten the timing is right.
Love your mistakes — my mistakes are my best friends and my best teachers. I never get upset with my team members for making a mistake. In fact, I encourage them to have the courage to make them and own them too. You need to challenge yourself to make more mistakes, or you’ll never learn and grow from them.

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

When I was a skincare start-up business almost 20 years ago, I vowed that if I ever became the leader of a team, I would encourage more young people to pursue careers in science. These days, I make sure I get involved with schools and universities to give talks on being a female founder, skincare expert, and a woman in science/ STEM.

I was once that awkward schoolgirl who spent hours a week pouring over chemistry and biology books but was often urged to focus on other subjects. I refused to wear the ‘women don’t do science’ badge of the 70s! Thankfully, my incredible dad and inspirational biology teacher encouraged and supported me in pursuing my passion for science.

This is why I am so passionate about educating young women and showing them that a career in science certainly isn’t boring! To any young person out there who wants to follow a path in science, I say unleash your inner nerd and go for it!

Within my business, I have always made a point of recruiting my team based on skills and personality fit within our work culture. I am fortunate that the beauty industry naturally attracts more females. This rings true across all departments of my business with over 80% of leadership roles in my business being driven by women.

In terms of what I can directly impact with my ability to formulate, it would be to wear sunscreen daily. It’s never too early or too late to start wearing sunscreen and it’s the most important thing you can do for your skin health. I always say if you can only choose one skincare product, make sure it’s sunscreen. Wearing a good quality sunscreen, and my preference is physical sunscreen with Zinc oxide, is not only your insurance policy against ageing, but it can save so many from dangerous solar radiation damage and skin cancer.

Oprah Winfrey

When a public sway of opinion is called ‘the Oprah effect’, you know the woman has high influential currency. What I love about Oprah is her open and giving spirit. Her respect from others has grown not from exertion of power, but from her integrity and vulnerability.

I used to watch ‘Oprah’ while I was breastfeeding my babies over twenty years ago. Being a stay-at-home mum for the first few years of my children’s lives was a wonderful experience but, after leaving a dynamic full-time career, it was a huge culture shock and challenged my perceived identity as a career woman. I remember Oprah’s inspirational gems reminding me each day of my influence and confidence as a woman and a mother.

A quote from her has always stuck with me: “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.”

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

Female Founders: Terri Vinson of Synergie Skin On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.