Dr Sunni Lampasso: How To Thrive Despite Experiencing Impostor Syndrome

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Ground yourself with the facts. Irrational thoughts and beliefs can get in the way of acknowledging your successes. Remind yourself of the education or experience that brought you to where you are. Look at the work you have done (make a list) and ask others what they see. For example, write down your wins, such as completing a project or coming up with an idea that helped your team. Keeping a written list can help you focus on your accomplishments.

As a part of our series about how very accomplished leaders were able to succeed despite experiencing Imposter Syndrome, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Sunni Lampasso.

Dr. Sunni Lampasso is an Executive Coach and Consulting Psychologist. Using her background in psychology, she helps executives and business owners get to the root of what’s getting in the way of further success. Then, using an assessment process, Dr. Lampasso helps clients develop and implement a custom plan to maximize their potential and improve performance.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?

My journey in helping people started at the age of 10 when I saved my grandmother from drowning. When I was old enough to work, I decided to become a lifeguard because I enjoyed being able to help people, and I loved swimming. During this time, my curiosity about people and their behavior grew when I took an elective psychology class in high school. In college, I majored in psychology and decided that I wanted to become a Clinical Psychologist. As soon as I finished college, I enrolled in a doctorate program. Since graduating, I’ve worked with people of all ages through my clinical work, and I also gained valuable experience as a leader and starting my own business. My transition to executive coaching and consulting psychology comes from my own experience and has allowed me to help leaders and business owners to hone their skills and reach their full potential.

Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

The most interesting story from my career is how I started my private practice. As a Clinical Psychologist, I had always planned to open a private practice at some point in my career. However, I had no formal business training, and I didn’t know anyone with a private practice who could act as a mentor. So when I started my business, I didn’t have a plan or know the right questions to ask. Instead, I learned through trial and error, which resulted in some costly mistakes. For example, I outsourced my billing without understanding the billing process and realized that I lost revenue after several months.

From this experience, I learned that having a business plan is imperative when you’re starting a business. In addition, seeking out a mentor (or several mentors) can be invaluable. In addition, working with an Executive Coach (which I did when starting my second business) can help you develop a roadmap for success and handle challenges as they arise.

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

I think that my company stands out for a few reasons. First, being a boutique firm, I provide personalized service to each client and develop collaborative relationships with clients that help them to grow. Second, my advanced training as a clinical psychologist, combined with my passion for helping people and organizations thrive, gives me an advantage over other consulting firms. Third, my love for applying psychology in the workplace stems from my personal experience holding leadership positions and starting my own business. In addition, I’ve experienced the benefits of working with an executive coach to create a roadmap for my business. Finally, my experience as a coaching client gives me a firsthand understanding of what clients struggle with and how coaching can help.

Client success stories and positive feedback provide evidence of the value of the service that I provide. For example, I worked with a small business owner struggling with completing administrative tasks while taking care of managerial responsibilities. Using my experience as a psychologist, business owner, and coaching client, I helped him explore his strengths and challenge areas and develop a plan to prioritize his responsibilities. Outsourcing for specific tasks, which I am familiar with as a business owner, helped him save time and increase productivity. In addition, he noted that the support I provided by sending relevant articles and checking on his progress in between meetings helped him prioritize and grow as a manager and leader.

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?

Dr. Chris Allen, a Workplace Psychologist, helped me pivot my career from Clinical Psychologist to Consulting Psychologist. Her story of transitioning from a clinical psychologist to founding a successful consulting business inspired me. Dr. Allen became my mentor and helped me to develop a transition plan. I’ve learned from her experience, and she connected me with a community of psychologists who also made a similar transition. Her support and the support of this community continue to be instrumental in my success as a consultant.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. We would like to explore and flesh out the experience of Impostor Syndrome. How would you define Impostor Syndrome? What do people with Imposter Syndrome feel?

Impostor Syndrome is a psychological phenomenon characterized by a pattern of persistent self-doubt that can impede success, especially when someone is early in their career or starting a new position. Common feelings associated with impostor syndrome are feeling like a fraud, not believing wins are deserved, and not attributing successes to your skills or abilities. Unfortunately, these feelings often persist despite evidence of accomplishments or successes.

Impostor Syndrome can sometimes be accompanied by anxiety and depression, but it is not an official diagnosis listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). However, psychologists acknowledge that the fear of being “found out” because of a belief that one is inadequate or incompetent despite being an accomplished professional is real.

It is important to note that Impostor Syndrome is not always caused solely by self-doubt. The workplace environment can reinforce impostor feelings. Toxic workplace culture can fuel Impostor Syndrome if the organization fails to value work/life balance and the collective group. In addition, bias and discrimination in the workplace can contribute to Impostor Syndrome.

What are the downsides of Impostor Syndrome? How can it limit people?

Impostor Syndrome can limit your ability to succeed at work and advance your career. This phenomenon also hinders the development of meaningful relationships at work. If you don’t develop relationships at work, your ability to learn and grow will be limited. Additionally, thoughts and feelings associated with Impostor Syndrome can become consuming and negatively impact concentration and productivity.

How can the experience of Impostor Syndrome impact how one treats others?

Impostor Syndrome hinders the development of meaningful relationships at work and can negatively affect how you treat others. For example, you may be more guarded and less likely to share with coworkers. In addition, others may perceive you as not caring or uninterested if you aren’t asking questions or talking about your successes and failures.

We would love to hear your story about your experience with Impostor Syndrome. Would you be able to share that with us?

I experienced impostor thoughts after being hired into a leadership position. My self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy caused me to avoid asking questions and taking risks. I didn’t feel comfortable talking about my successes or my failures with others, and, as a result, communicating less limited my ability to learn and grow professionally.

Did you ever shake the feeling off? If yes, what have you done to mitigate it or eliminate it?

For the most part, I have learned to manage impostor thoughts. However, they still surface from time to time. Remaining present and maintaining a growth and learning mindset helps me stay grounded and focused on learning. In addition, allowing myself to be vulnerable mitigates impostor feelings.

In your opinion, what are 5 steps that someone who is experiencing Impostor Syndrome can take to move forward despite feeling like an “Impostor”? Please share a story or an example for each.

  1. Ground yourself with the facts. Irrational thoughts and beliefs can get in the way of acknowledging your successes. Remind yourself of the education or experience that brought you to where you are. Look at the work you have done (make a list) and ask others what they see. For example, write down your wins, such as completing a project or coming up with an idea that helped your team. Keeping a written list can help you focus on your accomplishments.
  2. Practice self-compassion. Practicing self-compassion involves being kind and gentle with yourself and reminding yourself that you are not perfect (and no one is). For example, you can start by asking yourself what you might say to a friend who doesn’t believe they deserve acknowledgment for completing a complex project. Then try saying those words to yourself.
  3. Develop a growth and learning mindset. Having a growth mindset allows you to take on challenges and view failures as learning experiences. For example, if you make a mistake during a presentation at work, identify what you can learn from this experience. Maybe the error resulted from a lack of preparation, and you can spend more time preparing in the future.
  4. Be vulnerable. Disclosing information about ourselves can combat Impostor Syndrome. Talk with others you trust about your accomplishments and failures. Getting comfortable acknowledging your successes through discussion can allow you to celebrate your wins. In addition, talking openly about failures with others can help you feel less alone. Finally, talking about successes and failures can increase self-worth and build empathy. For example, speak with a coworker about a mistake you made and discuss what you learned from that mistake. Then, ask your coworker to share a story about a mistake they made at work.
  5. Consider working with a coach. If you find it challenging to manage thoughts related to Impostor Syndrome and notice it’s hindering your success, working with a coach can help you identify your strengths and develop skills to leverage them at work. In addition, coaching can provide a safe place to talk about impostor feelings, give you a realistic perspective, help you stop seeking perfection, and build confidence. For example, coaching can help you explore your thinking patterns and develop a growth mindset.

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

Adopting a growth and learning mindset has helped me reach my goals, stay motivated, and continue learning when setbacks occur. I want to inspire a movement to educate people about the benefits of adopting a growth and learning mindset and how it differs from a fixed mindset. A growth and learning mindset helps people learn from challenges, approach new situations and people with curiosity, and be more resilient during stressful times. If more people adopted a growth and learning mindset, we would have a more caring and productive society. In addition, I would advocate for teaching a growth mindset early in life. Educating children about the benefits of a growth mindset could help them navigate challenges and inspire curiosity.

We are blessed that some very prominent leaders 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, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them 🙂

I would love to have lunch with Gail Becker, founder of Caulipower. She is an inspirational leader who successfully pivoted from a corporate career to leading a thriving startup. Although Becker had friends and colleagues who didn’t support her vision, she persevered toward launching her product. With limited knowledge of the food industry, she identified a need for consumers to have quick and healthy food options and was passionate about bringing her idea to fruition. Becker acknowledged her lack of knowledge about this industry and hired consultants to help. In addition, she cares about her company culture and recognizes that diversity is key to bringing different perspectives. I’d love to talk with her about her experience founding and scaling a startup and about how she developed her company culture.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Readers can follow my work on the Latest News section of my website https://www.shapingsuccessconsulting.com/ or follow me on Instagram @shaping_success

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

Dr Sunni Lampasso: How To Thrive Despite Experiencing Impostor Syndrome was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Maria Sullivan On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Indust

Female Disruptors: Maria Sullivan of the Dating dot com Group On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Conor McGregor said, “I am not afraid of saying something and going and pursuing it. That’s it. I see it in my mind. I say it out loud, I go and do it.” From a marketer’s perspective, that’s inspiring to me, especially since he started out unknown to the world and made himself a worldwide brand.

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

Maria Sullivan is Vice President of Dating.com Group, the company behind one of the largest dating sites in the world. Maria has been instrumental in expanding Dating.com Group’s global presence. From Russia to Harvard, she is a global traveler, and after traveling so much she recognized the need for niche dating sites, targeted towards specific demos — which has become the foundation of Dating.com Group’s success.

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

I did a bit of journalism and figured out that advertising and marketing make more sense for me. Before joining Dating.com Group ten years ago, I worked for financial institutions and technology companies.

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

On the back end, Dating.com Group has very modern technologies for data analysis, AI and global, digitally focused marketing. All of Dating.com Group’s multiple brands are very interesting and disruptive from a technology perspective. For example, Dating.com offers multiple ways for singles around the world to communicate: streams, gift giving, instant chat for real-time messaging, and video dating with two-way webcams, in addition to offline emails.

Also, Dating.com is known for its deep industry insights and garners national attention for its studies. For example, the company recently revealed survey data outlining what triggers an instant rejection from online dating singles. It’s no secret that COVID-19 is weighing on the hearts and minds of dating singles across the U.S., and the top deal breaker for 86% of singles was being unvaccinated. 35% of singles said a long-distance relationship was a deal breaker, and more than 55% of respondents said being late to a planned date was a deal breaker.

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

When I was first starting in journalism I asked some awkward questions during interviews. I learned that awkward questions open up larger conversations that tend to be more interesting and surprising. There’s really “no such thing as a dumb question.” I’ve brought this mindset with me as I’ve traveled the world, studied at Harvard, etc. and asking awkward, dumb questions is how I’ve learned the most about the people and places that I’ve encountered.

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

I don’t believe in formal mentorship within workplace institutions. But I believe in observing people, analyzing them and striving to improve over time. For years I have been working with two brilliant managers and they are different and complimentary to one another at the same time. Watching their strengths and the way they improve through the years is my inspiration and self-mentoring plan.

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?

Being disruptive is always good if you’re helping people. For example, dating is a societal and cultural system that has withstood the test of time. However, it has greatly changed since the emergence of online dating, and today the concept of meeting someone in person is shifting to building online-only relationships. Although communicating online is different from in-person, and critics feel like it’s ruined traditional dating, in many ways it’s better. It gives people a chance to not only meet someone new, but to be introduced to other people, places and things anywhere in the world. It gives people the chance to spend time together — maybe a lifetime but maybe just an hour. It’s a place where singles never feel lonely, and ultimately this disruption of a traditional system is good because it’s helping people find new experiences.

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

Conor McGregor said, “I am not afraid of saying something and going and pursuing it. That’s it. I see it in my mind. I say it out loud, I go and do it.” From a marketer’s perspective, that’s inspiring to me, especially since he started out unknown to the world and made himself a worldwide brand.

Kobe Bryant once said, “I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.” Truly being able to put the team first is part of doing what is needed to accomplish the goal. Being a part of the stellar team at Dating.com Group, this is a thought I take with me into work every day.

Steve Jobs said, “It’s better to be a pirate than to join the Navy.” This really spoke to me when I first heard it because it’s about disrupting the status quo and tradition. As a marketer I’m always interested in finding new and better ways to do something.

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

Dating by definition is already shaking things up. The concept of meeting someone in person is shifting to building online-only relationships. And I want to continue building the most fun place where singles never feel lonely.

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

In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges faced by women disruptors and women in the workplace is that women are still put under more pressure than men to prove how intelligent we are, and why we should be taken seriously. We’re also made to feel like we need to justify why we deserve our hard earned success. As a result, we have always needed to be more proactive than men in showing that not only do we believe in ourselves, but that the rest of the world should believe in us and our ideas. Hopefully this will become a rare necessity as strong women continue to challenge the status quo and push hard to create a new norm.

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

Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk on starting with “why” is truly profound when it comes to leadership and marketing. Having a strong sense of purpose and clear vision is key to the success of any marketing campaign or business. For me, “why” I do what I do is to build a place where singles never feel lonely. I take this purpose with me into work every day to get people on board with our vision at Dating.com Group.

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’m building a place where singles never feel lonely. I believe that no one should ever have to feel lonely. Not just singles, but everyone. I encourage people to be part of a movement of going out of their way to be kind, make connections and have at least one genuine conversation with a new person every day — no matter how awkward it might feel in the moment. I want to inspire people to take a chance every day. Both dating and life are about the chance to meet someone new; for them to introduce you to people, places and things that you never knew that you’d love; and most importantly, the chance to spend time together — maybe a lifetime but maybe just an hour. By taking chances and being open to making new connections, you might find something more out there, something you’ve never even imagined.

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

Conor McGregor said, “I am not afraid of saying something and going and pursuing it. That’s it. I see it in my mind. I say it out loud, I go and do it.” From a marketer’s perspective, that’s inspiring to me, especially since he started out unknown to the world and made himself a worldwide brand.

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

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

Female Disruptors: Nancy Parsons of CDR Companies On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your…

Female Disruptors: Nancy Parsons of CDR Companies On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

When things get tough, focus on the mission. This is so true. With releasing our new coaching technology, CDR-U Coach, during COVID combined with all of the marketing and sales challenges of introducing a new product, it has been a tough climb to say the least. When we have a disappointment or setback, I focus on our mission and think about how many people we are going to help in their careers and lives. This stops me from getting too down or negative. Also, you have to understand that there are many failures along the way for all entrepreneurs. If you get down and focus on what goes wrong too often, you will miss the opportunities and windows to succeed. Your mission can be the rudder to help steer you through the tough times. It does for me.

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

Nancy Parsons is CEO/President of CDR Companies, LLC, and is a globally recognized expert in combining the science of assessments with the art of developing people. Nancy was the MEECO International Thought Leader of Distinction in Executive Coaching (2019) and author of the Amazon bestseller: Women Are Creating the Glass Ceiling and Have the Power to End It. Nancy and her team recently launched CDR-U Coach, the first of its kind, A/I type avatar coach that provides individualized assessment feedback and development for all employees and was just awarded the 2021 Gold Star Winner of the “Best New Product or Service of the Year” by the Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

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

I was raised outside of Philadelphia, PA and was the middle of five children, the first four of us were girls. My father worked third shift at the Inquirer newspaper and was a union negotiator. So, I think I developed my assertiveness from my dad. When I was growing up, I participated in every sport available to me. Back then, there were quite a few: swimming, running, basketball, softball, and field hockey. I even played on a women’s football team in Philadelphia and we won the city championship. I played cornerback and this gave me a whole new appreciation and perspective for football, which I already loved. Lastly, in school, I also held a number of leadership roles: co-president of my junior class, captain of the drill team and I had the lead in several plays. In my off time, I was a softball umpire.

I was a non-traditional college student and attended Neumann University at night while I worked full time at Sun Shipyard. I began as a secretary in procurement and when I started, I had to cross the picket lines as the five bargaining units were striking. This helped me to get noticed as I was superfast on the keyboard and was able to help many people who didn’t have their secretaries. Soon after the five-week strike was over, I was promoted to a job in HR. I remember the question the HR Director asked me, “How do you think you can deal with someone, say an angry employee, yelling at you?“ My response was, “Well I hadn’t had that on the job before, but I am an umpire and men and women players and coaches can get pretty tough and I usually can settle it or will toss the person from the game if needed.” I think that nailed the offer for me and I was selected over several who had college degrees. I never looked back. HR and helping people was my destiny and I am still on that course.

At one of my jobs at Sun Pipe Line, I was the lead labor negotiator for a time, taking the other side of my dad’s work! I loved the HR work, but over the years, I gravitated to coaching, developing leaders and the employees. I even developed a 360 feedback process for executives in 1990. I grew weary of firefighting and wanted to get in front of the leadership and employee problems. My first attempt at being an entrepreneur was in the early 1990s. I started GREATer EXPECTATIONS, a human resource consulting and publishing firm. I stayed with it a couple of years and went back to a large energy company for a while as I missed being in the large company. However, what I learned there while taking classes on running my own business at the local technology center, saved what was to be our future company, CDR Companies, LLC. I learned to copyright and trademark, or even patent if eligible, all intellectual property and file with appropriate government entities. If you don’t file to certify it, you cannot protect it effectively. I am so thankful for this course!

Later, I focused on assessments and founded CDR Assessment Group, Inc. in 1998 with Kimberly Leveridge, Ph.D. where we developed the CDR Character, CDR Risk and CDR Drivers & Rewards Assessments and later, the 360 Leader Scan. We train and certify internal and external executive coaches. Our vision is to revolutionize leadership and we are still on that quest.

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

We developed the first of its kind avatar coaching platform that individually debriefs our in-depth Character, Risks and Drivers and Rewards Assessments. It is an AI type experience for the user with no two people receiving the same feedback and developmental action plans are offered. Most AI coaching products are just in time coaching on short or simple issues. With CDR-U Coach, which is available 24/7, organizations can now provide robust assessments and coaching to all levels of employees, not just the top 15 to 20 percent. Then, the data from CDR-U Coach can be used for enterprise-wide solutions, such as succession planning, custom training designs, team formation and development, improving diversity and inclusion initiatives, finding hidden talent and more.

Finding good employees today is difficult and keeping them is even harder. Retention is crucial and according to the Workplace LinkedIn Learning Report in 2021, 94 percent would stay at their current employer if they invested in their long-term learning. This begins with helping each employee understand their own inherent capability, strengths, gaps, risks and motivational needs. That is what CDR-U Coach does.

As noted in my bio, CDR-U Coach is being honored as the 2021 Gold Star Winner of the “Best New Product or Service of the Year” by the Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

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

I gave this careful thought and I honestly could not think of a “funny” story when starting CDR. I do have a story, however, of an odd twist of fate that we persevered through. When I signed the contract with the company where we were going to buy scoring and data in the early days, that was the Friday before Labor Day weekend of 1998. Then, I went off from Tulsa to my daughters’ soccer tournament in Plano, Texas. During the early Saturday morning game, my oldest daughter, who was a sophomore then, was going in to score on the Dallas D’Feeters. The Sweeper (defender) took her out in a nasty hit and she suffered a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula. She had to go to the Plano hospital for emergency surgery. So, my husband was going to fly to be with us. However, he suffered a medical emergency himself while he was on the way to the airport and ended up in St. John’s Medical Center in Tulsa. I had two surgeries of my loved ones in two different cities the day after I signed the contract. (Thankfully, everyone recovered over time.)

Then my business partner, Kimberly Leveridge PH.D. and I opened CDR Assessment Group on Monday, October 5, 1998 at our new offices. That night, Kim went to step aerobics at the local YWCA. She fell off the bench and broke both wrists.

Were these bad omens? I hoped not. We worked really hard, developed our assessments and managed life the best we could. The lesson I learned was that you never know what life will deal you and to do your best and stay focused on your mission and your family needs. This forced me to be extremely productive and adaptable to get through those tough first few months. We met our goals and sent our assessments to be copyrighted to the Library of Congress at the end of December. This later saved our business.

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?

For my entire time at Sunoco companies, I had great bosses. They believed in me, trusted me, helped me, gave me “candid” feedback and treated me with respect. They also gave me plenty of space to perform. Fortunately, I was a hard worker and had a knack for problem solving. I would sometimes find problems the company didn’t even know they had. In one case at Sun Ship, I became a bit of an expert on the ERISA laws, governing retirement plans. I found that a good percentage of employees who were vested had been denied pensions because the company had miscalculated their actual eligible vested years. Sun Ship immediately reinstated and back paid everyone when we found this unintentional error. That was under Donna Pedrick and she always had my back, even when uncovering this costly pension mistake. She regularly gave me feedback and helped me grow. Bill Howey, Rick Taylor and Joe Swift were all positive too. They saw something in me and supported my “justice will be done mentality” to help employees and the company. They were all honest and supportive, but different in their styles.

My business partner, Kim, was also a mentor to me in many ways. She had wit and wisdom that I welcomed. If we faced a tough case or client, Kim would frame it in such a fun way, in confidence, I had to laugh and that would always take the pressure off. I really enjoyed brainstorming with Kim and we complemented each other quite well.

Richard Gajan helped me in the last several years with my coaching technology business and on how to write the plan, get investors, etc. He had great patience and was always responsive and totally believed in our mission. His excitement was always reassuring. Christine Klatt heads up our business and clients services and she has been my rock. She has amazing business and financial savvy and knowledge. Christine is a great problem solver and critical thinker. We are a small entity and together, we have broken boundaries, have accomplished so much and it works. So, I guess you could say she is a mentor as she is an expert where I am not. We often disagree — but we get there and I trust her judgement.

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?

Disruption is positive when you are providing solutions that make marked improvements and can be sustained and tested over time to be positive. Disruption is also essential when dealing and adapting in “VUCA” times we live in today. VUCA stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Events such as COVID, political climate, economic instability, inflation, hiring difficulties, civil unrest and even technology leaps combine for constant change with many unknowns. Today’s innovators and futurists can be key to helping us through by disrupting with new solutions when facing so many unknowns. With CDR-U Coach, we have built a platform that is future focused because today’s solutions have not adequately identified and developed all talent. Our goal is to democratize, personalize and digitize learning and development. It is disruptive, but necessary to retain and develop talent.

On the other hand, some disruptive ideas and solutions can be ineffective, damaging or even devastating. One example that comes to mind is some of the work in AI that could violate values and ethics. Some forms of AI monitor all activities of employees and managers all day. This may invade privacy and be over the line, which can cause employees to leave. Technology frequently is disruptive, but when it invades privacy or our personal data without clear permission, this violates the law and trust. Lastly, not all change or disruption makes sense. Sometimes supposed improvements or disruption ideas cause more damage than good, so careful evaluation and due diligence is needed to be sure we are not changing just for the sake of change.

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

  • Never forget where you came from. Bill Howey was my boss at the Cordero Coal Mine in Gillette Wyoming when I was an ER Representative. He was concerned that because I was so young in my early 20s that my position and pay would get to my head and that I might become arrogant or full of myself. I was raised in a blue-collar family and people would describe me as down to earth. He didn’t want me to lose that and I don’t think I have. I am proud of my family and history. I enjoy relating to all people from janitors to CEOs.
  • Trust yourself. I was always confident in dealing with senior executives, even early in my career. I did my homework and always was able to stand my ground when necessary. However, in the world of assessments, research, executive coaching and consulting, we work with many Ph.D.s. In the early years of CDR, there would be an occasional cynical, arrogant or pompous scholar who might be sarcastic or abrasive who would challenge me or our work. Kim, my business partner, was always there to remind me that I was the expert and to trust myself and not let these non-experts (in our field) hurt my confidence.
  • When things get tough, focus on the mission. This is so true. With releasing our new coaching technology, CDR-U Coach, during COVID combined with all of the marketing and sales challenges of introducing a new product, it has been a tough climb to say the least. When we have a disappointment or setback, I focus on our mission and think about how many people we are going to help in their careers and lives. This stops me from getting too down or negative. Also, you have to understand that there are many failures along the way for all entrepreneurs. If you get down and focus on what goes wrong too often, you will miss the opportunities and windows to succeed. Your mission can be the rudder to help steer you through the tough times. It does for me.

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

Well, I am looking forward to some exciting research we will be doing on personalities that are more prone to being victims of harassment and bullying as things settle a bit. This will be eye opening for sure because we can help the would-be victims earlier in life to adapt tactics and skills to fend off any would-be offenders.

Soon, we will introduce an addition to our Career Action Planning Module called, “Do You Have a STEM Profile,” which can help so many young people understand that they do, in fact, have the inherent potential for this exciting and profitable work.

We are on the course to helping millions of people earlier in their careers to become more self-aware to drive their education and careers in the best direction based on their strengths and their passions with CDR-U Coach.

Lastly, I really want to shake up how we do “leadership.” I hope to turn leadership on its head so that we can get it right. For over two decades, leadership ineffectiveness stands at about 50 to 75 percent. This is evident from multiple and ongoing studies from the most respected organizations that show this.

So, CDR-U Coach is a stepping-stone and coaching platform to help us to disrupt and reverse the impact of failed leadership. We will get this done!

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

Clearly, men’s businesses have an easier time getting financing and more contracts than women. They own many of the businesses that have been around for decades and that dominate the marketplace. One of the issues we face is that often our prospective clients are not risk takers, so they tend to want to go with consulting houses with long track records. Sadly, these are the ones who are often making bank off of failed systems. HR types are not change agents by nature, so they stay with these firms, many of the male-dominated or owned large consulting houses. It is visibility that can be tough in a busy marketplace for the female entrepreneur. The big boys have big marketing budgets and it is hard for us to gain the footing to be seen and tested.

Also, our firm’s research shows that when men are more assertive and bold, customers in leadership like and appreciate those behaviors. When women are assertive and bold, we are too “pushy.” There are different rules of engagement when it comes to perceptions. So, we don’t only have to fight the market share issues of the old guard, we also have to not rock the boat too much with prospective clients or they run away.

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

My favorite is Patrick Lencioni’s The Advantage. This is a great book for clarifying your values as an organization and building your playbook. It is not fluff and he challenges using the word “integrity” for your core values since this word means different things to different people. He says get clear and gives and example of an effective value,

“We will all clean floors if that is what it takes to get the job done.” That is actionable and clear!

Also, he offers a two-page strategic game plan for your team members and to share with all employees. It’s clear and concise and puts everyone on the same page without the blah, blah, blah.

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. 🙂

Enhance your own self-awareness so that you can be successful and happy. Otherwise, you can be missing a great deal in life. Use a deep scientifically valid assessment like the CDR 3-D Suite to help you understand your true talent, risks and passions. Then, you will never work a day in your life. Also, this can prevent you from undervaluing your potential or getting stuck in a career that is unsatisfying. You would be shocked at how many people have hidden talent that they never realize or develop.

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

“The question isn’t who is going to let me, but who is going to stop me.” — Ayn Rand

As a woman entrepreneur, these are words to live by. Asking permission is the kiss of death to building your business success. I’ve always started things, led things, competed for things and love to make things happen. When you combine your practical knowledge, problem solving capabilities and excitement to develop and design new solutions, you can’t lose.

Now, of course, you need to network, build relationships and support others–and those are the things that women are generally natural at doing well. You need a great team to succeed, but as the CEO of your start-up, don’t ask for permission. You will need to pivot and flex frequently along the way, but stay strong, stay determined and do not let naysayers and glass ceilings deter your will and your success. You go girl!

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

Female Disruptors: Nancy Parsons of CDR Companies 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.

The Future of Beauty: Dr Jeffrey L Schmidt of Schmidt Facial Plastic Surgery On How Their Technolo

The Future of Beauty: Dr Jeffrey L Schmidt of Schmidt Facial Plastic Surgery On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Beauty Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Treat your skin well. I practice what I preach. I wear sunscreen every day. I put my tube next to my toothbrush. I avoid being in the sun whenever possible. The same thing goes for wind and cold, dry air. I love living in Colorado, but along with that comes a punishing environment. The high altitude thins the atmosphere. So, in the mountains, we have less of a shield from the sun. One of the things that I like to do is anytime I’m outside, whether it be snowboarding, hiking, or even in my car, I try to always wear a buff/mask (which is easy to do these days). I make sure that I’m wearing protective eyewear in the form of goggles or UV blocking sunglasses.

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

In 10 years of practice, Dr. Jeffrey L. Schmidt, based in Denver, Colorado, has established a reputation as an expert in facial anatomy and one of the finest facial plastic and reconstructive surgeons in the country. Dr. Schmidt attributes his passion for the practice to the rewards gained by helping so many people build confidence and being part of their personal stories as a result. Between his Vietnamese and Austrian ancestry and several medical mission trips abroad, Dr. Schmidt has gained an appreciation for cultural diversity. Aside from travel, he has many interests that, like his practice, are particularly appealing considering their bridge across art and science.

A Texas native, Dr. Schmidt graduated with a degree in psychology at Southern Methodist University before pursuing medical studies at The University of Texas School of Medicine in San Antonio. After earning his medical doctorate, Dr. Schmidt was selected for a highly competitive Head and Neck Surgery residency in Omaha, NE. In his final year, he was appointed Chief Resident of the program and became responsible for teaching residents and medical students from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University School of Medicine. Dr. Schmidt engaged in several scientific studies during his residency and was notably awarded for his research assessing the effects of melatonin in oxygen-starved tissues.

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

Thank you for having me! My path began in medical school when we were randomly assigned a mentor.

My mentor just happened to be the chair of the otolaryngology department. At the time I didn’t even know what otolaryngology was, which I discovered is a surgical specialty focusing upon the ears, nose and throat. When I met with the chair and we discussed my career goals, I told him I wanted to become a surgical specialist of some sort, but I really had no definitive idea what I wanted to do. He said the best way to set myself up to be competitive for essentially any specialty was to add research to my CV. So I told him, “OK! Sign me up!” I really liked the department and while there was lucky to work under the tutelage of one of the world’s top facial plastic surgeons. At about the same time, I was watching popular plastic surgery shows at the time like Dr. 90210, Nip/Tuck, and other more reputable shows on the Discovery Health channel. I came to enjoy these interesting stories of transformation and seeing how this type of work could really impact people’s lives. I thought to myself, I really want to be a part of that; So this set the course for me to become a facial plastic surgeon.

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

I’ve definitely had a number of interesting cases that have tested my skill, and I think that looking back over the years, there’s one that probably stands out from the others. The story involves a patient who suffered a fall and developed a case of necrotizing fasciitis. The media likes to call this condition by it’s more attention-grabbing title, “flesh-eating bacteria.” When patients get this infection in the extremities, often the germs will just tear through the tissues, sometimes leaving us with little to salvage. You can only imagine how devastating this condition is when it occurs in the head and neck area. I suspect that when this patient fell, he probably bit his cheek, and then the bacteria from his mouth escaped into the tissues and went to work eating through the entire side of his face, neck, and scalp. This particular infection was so aggressive that despite several very strong IV antibiotics, things looked dire. I took him to the operating room emergently and then several additional times over the course of the ensuing days to excise the dead tissue. After six or seven procedures, he started to round the corner, at which point we began rehabilitation and reconstruction of a large missing portion of his face. This gentleman happened to be in his 80’s at the time, and I really admired his tenacity, will to live, and his strength to keep fighting. At that age, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say, “Look, I’ve led a great life, but I’m throwing in the towel,” rather than enduring such extensive treatment. Roughly fifteen operations later, this patient had the worst behind him.

You can imagine how touched and surprised I was when, years later, he sent me a greeting card out of the blue. On his note he told me that he was living a good life into his nineties and doing exceptionally well. I keep this note on my desk along with all of the other thank you cards I’ve received from patients over the course of my career.

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

I’ve been in private practice as a solo-practitioner now for about 10 years, and we’ve been slowly building over time. I started out doing more reconstructive surgery and have since transitioned primarily to facial cosmetic surgery. It’s a bit ironic, but one of the springboards that propelled my practice was what happened in 2020. With COVID-19, we were forced to shut down for almost 8 weeks. Nobody really knew what was going to happen with the world in general, and I certainly had no idea what would happen with my business. We had to scale down personnel, put all focus on how we could continue to care for our patients and keep things afloat. We worked tirelessly to formulate a plan so that when things finally did open again, we were able to hit the ground running. Now we are busier than ever, and we are so thankful.

The biggest takeaway for me, as cliché as it sounds, is when life hands you lemons — make lemon bars. Those little treats are utterly delicious. Anyhow, these black swan events happen, and they really present an opportunity for businesses and individuals to separate themselves from the herd. Some businesses shut down saying there’s no way to recover, and others asked “how can we turn this into an opportunity to really push forward?” These moments can be a major turning point where you can either excel or pack it in.

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

Without question, I am not a one-man show. I’ve had a number of people who have helped inspire and support me along the way, and I’m very, very grateful to all of those individuals. I certainly owe gratitude to my parents. Early on, they stressed the importance of a strong education and instilled in me certain values, including having a proper attitude in life, which is key, as attitude affects everything. One of my big inspirations in life is my uncle, a retired clinical psychologist who encouraged me to go into

his field of psychology — which I did initially pursue. In the end, I changed direction. Interestingly, though, there’s a very large role that psychology plays in caring for my patients. There is an interconnection between one’s appearance and one’s sense of self-confidence. In most instances, the work that I’m doing has a significant impact upon the way people view themselves.

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

Science and technology are evolving at such a pace that it’s allowing us to treat conditions in a way that we’ve never been able to before. For example, I’m so excited about the advances we’re making with light-based technology, including IPL (intense pulse light) and lasers, which allow us to improve previously untreatable conditions. One of our most recently acquired lasers is able to fire pulses on the order of a trillionth of a second in duration. Just think about that… A trillionth of a second! That is unfathomably fast. What’s so special about this laser is that there is minimal heat generated in the tissues as compared to previous generation lasers. We’re actually able to create a photo-acoustic effect that smashes pigment (be it tattoo ink or naturally occurring pigment in age spots), blasting it into tiny particles to be absorbed by the immune system. Also, since such little heat is produced, the likelihood of complications is minimized.

Off-the-shelf cosmetic filler is another example of a significant technological advancement. Harvesting the power of bacteria, we have engineered hyaluronic acid fillers that are naturally metabolized by our body. This is pretty amazing. Think about it. We have this substance that looks like clear gel, is biocompatible, and dissolves over time; we’re injecting this substance into someone’s face! This is truly an impressive achievement in aesthetic science and not something that happened overnight. Back in the day, we used to inject bovine collagen to fill thin lips, and before that, we used silicone. With both of these dated technologies, we faced a higher number of unfavorable reactions.

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

Of course medical technologies have their risks from a physical standpoint, but I think that some of the scenarios portrayed in the dark television series Black Mirror point more toward unintended social consequences. When we look at some advanced technologies such as lasers, I don’t immediately think of any specific concerns. But when we start contemplating what might arise far into the future, certain ethical situations might arise. Consider tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and cloning. Perhaps we may find ourselves in situations where we seemingly never age, or even appear to go in the opposite direction. What if we were to purposely make someone very young look like an adult? I think we could get into some pretty serious Black Mirror-esque types of situations. I think it’s important for both pharmaceutical and medical device companies to collaborate closely with physician experts to carefully discuss new technology in an effort to anticipate and circumvent these potential pitfalls.

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

I think number one for me is the prospect of what regenerative medicine will do for medicine in general, but particularly for facial regeneration. The implications for hair transplantation will be incredible. Rather than necessarily having to do traditional hair transplantation, where we take tissue from other parts of the scalp, we could actually separately grow these hair follicles and develop them into tissue that’s mature enough to directly place into the patient’s recipient site — rather than “stealing” that tissue from another area. This would be advantageous for someone like me, for example. I don’t have very dense hair to begin with. So, removing hair from the back of my head would make the area even sparser. That means that on a personal level, thinking about this type of technology is very exciting.

A growing fascination for me is the use of robotics in aesthetics. We are using robotics in surgical procedures much more commonly in certain disciplines including obstetrics/gynecology, urology, endocrine surgery, and general surgery, but not much when it comes to the aesthetic side of things. I’m really interested to watch the cost of robotic surgery diminish with time and observe new applications that make surgical procedures safer, enable surgeons to yield outcomes not previously possible, and potentially achieve all of this from across the world.

Another area that I find exciting is facial rejuvenation utilizing regenerative medicine technology. The ability to use one’s stem cells to rejuvenate some of the deeper tissues and revitalize the skin will profoundly revolutionize the war against aging. I think that we are just beginning to scratch the surface in terms of how we can and will tap into this technology.

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

One of the things that concerns me about the industry is that with all the new technology, many people are of the notion that we facial plastic surgeons can achieve absolutely anything. We hear about facial transplantation and then watch television shows and movies showing plastic surgery transformation with no evidence of scars, and really, this blurs the line between fiction and reality. Many of these shows keep the good parts and edit out the challenges some patients must endure through the recovery process. These portrayals can lead some to believe that anything is possible and all outcomes will be perfect, which unfortunately is just not the case.

Another concern is this idea that we have the ability to correct all conditions with a laser or non-invasive procedure, in all cases avoiding the need for surgery. Take for example fillers. If one has bags underneath the eyes, often we’re able to place fillers, like Belotero, around the eyes and camouflage those bags to address that concern. However, over time — as the skin and deeper tissues begin to age — the bags enlarge, and the skin sags more. We’d have to correct this by adding more and more filler, and by doing that we aren’t actually addressing the underlying issue. All we’re actually doing is adding more volume which can result in over-filled and bloated facial features. It’s my job as an aesthetic practitioner to tell my patients, “This is not the direction you want to keep going. If you continue down this path, your face is not going to look natural.”

The commoditization of aesthetic medicine is also concerning. It’s becoming easier and easier for these technologies to be employed by unqualified individuals with no understanding of the real-world implications or science behind what they’re doing. This creates a high potential for misuse. Whether it be fillers or lasers, some are being administered by folks who just don’t have the appropriate education about relevant anatomy and physiology or understanding of the technology required for safe use. This is why it’s very important to really look at the credentials of your doctor to understand who’s treating you. While there are some limitations placed by the government in terms of who’s authorized to perform your treatment, there are some instances where individuals performing treatments have gone rogue from state guidelines. This is dangerous. These treatments may alter the structure of our tissues and, in the wrong hands, could result in infection and permanent disfigurement. From a healthcare reform standpoint, we have to work at making things as safe as possible for our patients. Additionally, we as providers really need to understand the psychology of our patients. We could say, “Yep. You’ve got a problem. We’ve got a solution. You’ve got a brown spot? We’ve got a laser for that. You’ve got thin lips? No problem, we’ve got fillers for that.” Instead, we need to exercise good medical judgment to decide whether it’s appropriate to offer treatment. There are some people who become addicted to plastic surgery because it gives them a temporary dopamine hit. Such individuals may seek treatment to cover up deeper psychological issues, which sadly, plastic surgery cannot cure. As providers, we must educate these patients on body dysmorphia and help them find more appropriate counseling instead.

You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)

  1. At the end of the day, attending to our most basic needs allow us to be the best version of ourselves and will, in turn, allow us to feel beautiful.
  2. It’s really important to make sure to get a good night’s sleep. This is the time when your body undergoes reparative processes, the essential biochemical reactions that are necessary to allow our bodies to function at their best. Sleep impacts all of our organs, including our skin.
  3. Sticking with the basics, next is diet and exercise — but more so diet. You can’t exercise yourself out of a bad diet. Our overall form is largely impacted by the food choices we make which affect our face, its volume, skin tone — our body, its shape, how our clothes fit. Some people will try to change things via plastic surgery, but first and foremost, mind the fundamentals.
  4. Next, treat your skin well. I practice what I preach. I wear sunscreen every day. I put my tube next to my toothbrush. I avoid being in the sun whenever possible. The same thing goes for wind and cold, dry air. I love living in Colorado, but along with that comes a punishing environment. The high altitude thins the atmosphere. So, in the mountains, we have less of a shield from the sun. One of the things that I like to do is anytime I’m outside, whether it be snowboarding, hiking, or even in my car, I try to always wear a buff/mask (which is easy to do these days). I make sure that I’m wearing protective eyewear in the form of goggles or UV blocking sunglasses.
  5. Finally, smile more. Smiling changes your physiology and biochemistry and has the ability to impact that same physiology and biochemistry in everyone around you. Smiling is powerful and contagious.

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. 🙂

Let’s start a movement called “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.” I like to gauge the “small stuff” in the grand scheme of life’s important things by asking a series of questions: Will this impact my life after 5 minutes? What about 5 days? 5 weeks? 5 years? If the answer is: this will be a significant issue for me in 5 years, then this issue merits more attention. However, if someone cuts me off in traffic, why get upset about it? I’m likely not going to be thinking about it 5 seconds from now, let alone 5 minutes from now. So, I really don’t give it any unnecessary, undeserved attention and energy. Life is a finite gift, and we must use it wisely.

The way I like to look at things is that if something’s bothering me, I need to accept, understand, and expect such challenges are par for the course in life. The universe is going to throw curveballs, and that’s what keeps our journey interesting. How much energy we spend dwelling fruitlessly on problems is up to us.

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

I remember when I was in high school I was over at a friend’s house and noticed that, framed on the wall was “The Definition of Success,” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

These words struck a chord in my life at a young age, and they have become a guiding light for me. I hope that I’ve checked all of Ralph’s boxes.

How can our readers follow you online?

We’d love for you to find out more about us online by visiting our website at www.the-facelift-doc.com. You can also find us on Instagram @the_faceliftdoc and on our YouTube channel Schmidt Facial Plastic Surgery. We hope to see you there!

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

The Future of Beauty: Dr Jeffrey L Schmidt of Schmidt Facial Plastic Surgery On How Their Technolo was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Lessons from a Thriving Power Couple, With Jessica Alzamora & Trey Sazon

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Great communication. We struggled with this in the beginning because it was new to the both of us. But since we work together and people look at us as a team, we had to know even the smallest little details about scheduling, conversations, etc, so that we would not look unorganized when speaking to other people. There was a huge mix-up one time because we did not go over certain plans we each had for a specific area of our business, and we then went on to discuss the same thing with the same person, individually, but both expressed it very differently leading to canceled events and a ton of other miscommunications that cost both time and money.

As a part of our series about lessons from Thriving Power Couples, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jessica Alzamora and Trey Sazon.

Jessica Alzamora and Trey Sazon, who are a thriving power couple out of Chicago. They both come from humble beginnings and have built their notoriety from 0. They inspire hundreds of thousands of people via their platforms and are still growing!

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

We were both kind of doing our own thing in different industries for a while, while both being influencers at the same time. He is a musician and I was a fitness influencer at the time. One day, we had a talk about where we wanted to take our careers long term and realized our goals aligned. I wanted to be more behind the scenes after being the face of my company for seven years and he was ready to fully focus on his music career. So we decided that I would be his manager and I would represent him as a musician. We jumped right in and took off. Within two weeks of me managing him, we got him signed to an amazing record label and haven’t stopped working since!

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

(We are not married) We, unfortunately, were driving home from a dinner one day and a semi-truck hit us very rapidly. We went from celebrating a huge milestone in his music career one minute to nearly losing our lives the next. We were both hospitalized immediately and for quite a while, it was actually the longest we had ever been away from each other our entire relationship (we were taken to different hospitals due to the difference in our injuries). All of the doctors kept telling us how lucky we were to be alive and we were immediately so overcome with gratitude, despite our severe injuries, and it really just made our relationship even stronger.

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?

Jessica: We had never worked together in this capacity, so talking about the financial side of things was extremely awkward (ahem, the manager getting a fair cut of the artist’s income). I also didn’t want him to bring me on just because I was his partner, so I didn’t want to be pushy about anything. So it wasn’t until we were down to the wire that I was like “ok we need to make decisions, draft contracts and… talk about money.” And he was just like “Yeah, ok. I trust you more than anyone and I want you to be protected so let’s just do it.” That was when I realized that the fear of these awkward conversations, which I was holding on to for weeks, was completely unnecessary and we really could have avoided the awkwardness by just jumping in to the conversation from the beginning.

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

We are a young couple basically managing our own thriving careers, together. We fully trust each other and feel most comfortable with each other, so when we have to have conversations about career moves it’s super easy because we know each other so well and we are so comfortable just bluntly speaking our minds about things to each other. When we had other people managing our careers, we couldn’t be as straightforward about our needs, wants, thoughts, etc, so we were constantly settling for less than we really deserved. Now that it’s just us, we fight for each other more than anyone else would fight for us, which means we are getting our career needs met much more consistently.

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

We are working on so many exciting new projects right now! They are mostly secret for now, but they are all going to be extremely motivating and inspiring.

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

Create a comfortable environment where people can really feel comfortable being themselves and comfortable expressing their thoughts and concerns.

How do you define “Leadership”?

Influencing people in a way that maximizes effort.

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?

Our parents! They helped us through our hardest times, always believed in us, and supported us even when things weren’t looking bright. Also, our followers. They have been our biggest supporters and have always kept us motivated to keep moving forward.

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

We have been big on keeping people motivated and inspiring them through our own story. We share the hard times as much as we do the good times, that way people know they are not alone.

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

  1. Great communication. We struggled with this in the beginning because it was new to the both of us. But since we work together and people look at us as a team, we had to know even the smallest little details about scheduling, conversations, etc, so that we would not look unorganized when speaking to other people. There was a huge mix-up one time because we did not go over certain plans we each had for a specific area of our business, and we then went on to discuss the same thing with the same person, individually, but both expressed it very differently leading to canceled events and a ton of other miscommunications that cost both time and money.
  2. Trust. You need to trust that you both have each other’s best interest in mind at all times. You are a team, not each other’s competition. If you can trust that you are both on the same team and are both always looking out for each other, then you can both go on and get work done without having to keep tabs on each other every single moment of the day. This makes it so much easier to get things done and progress in your life together, so it is mutually beneficial.
  3. Organization. Being organized is so underrated for couples, but as a couple, it cuts out so many little frustrations. We decided to get on a shared calendar because we were constantly making plans and forgetting to tell each other about them so one of us would make another plan that would conflict with something else and it was a huge mess. Once we got organized, though, so many little annoyances were easily resolved.
  4. Alone time. It is important for each person to have time to be alone and work on things they are passionate about. You are not both going to like doing or watching all of the same things, so make sure you each still take time to do the things you enjoy for yourself. For example, I hate massages but he loves them and I love taking long baths. So sometimes it’s necessary for him to go to the spa and get a massage while I take a long, warm bath and relax. It helps us both regroup and re-energize.
  5. Fun. That being said, it’s also important to find things you both enjoy doing together. Keeping the fun alive in your relationship is important to avoid burnout. We love to travel together but also to exercise together and do a ton of other stuff. Finding a balance between your own time and your time as a couple is super important.

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

It would definitely be something that reminds people how short life could be and how quickly things can change, as a way to motivate people to appreciate the little things and the life they have now while they work towards the life they want in the future.

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

Your comeback is always bigger than your setback! When we were in a horrible car accident, we didn’t even think we’d make it out alive. But once we took the time to reset, recharge and heal… then we came back with a vengeance and new outlook on life that made us work smarter and harder.

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 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 🙂

There are so many! However, it would have to be Elon Musk. The fact that he didn’t come from wealth but was able to build so much wealth has always been inspiring.

How can our readers follow your work online?

www.instagram.com/jessica.a156 and www.instagram.com/treysazon

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

Lessons from a Thriving Power Couple, With Jessica Alzamora & Trey Sazon was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Dina Lobo on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey…

Women In Wellness: Dina Lobo on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Separate yourself from your thoughts. You can detach yourself from your ideas once you become aware of them. Your thoughts are temporary. Either through journaling, visualization, or positive self-talk we can escape from that black or white thinking, which often leads to either a reaction of panic to a situation, or irrational choices.

As a part of our series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dina Lobo.

Dina Lobo is a love and authenticity practitioner and mindset coach, certified trauma support expert, financial services manager, mother, and travel enthusiast, who assists clients in overcoming mental and emotional barriers that hinder them from living the life they truly desire.

She is the creator of Transformational Spark coaching, a company that assists clients in deciphering and resolving the core source of their ailments at the subconscious level, as well as creating breakthrough experiences that raise conscious awareness. This enables her customers to discover inner peace and freely follow their life’s ambitions.

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 story about how you first got involved in fitness and wellness?

My expertise is mental wellness. Last year when I became a mom it was challenging due to the pandemic. I had scary emergency situations and had to undergo a diagnosis as well, prior to becoming pregnant. All of this caused tremendous trauma and as a result, my stress levels were through the roof.

I began to learn about the connection, or integration, between my mind and body. As a financial manager, I was helping people with financial breakthroughs, but I knew deep within I was meant to help people on a much deeper level.

I started Transformational Spark Coaching, and the world turned upside down for me. I began to attract beautiful things because I became the embodiment of change.

I told myself “I am in the process of having a transformation. I can be a mom and a successful entrepreneur.” This is when everything changed for me.

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

Before, I would put everything else before myself. My self-care routine was not that great and as a result, I saw that there were these strong needs that were starving within me. The most interesting thing that happened was the timing and how starting on this journey worked perfectly for me.

I was able to be on parental leave and have this ‘transformation,’ while spending time with my baby, being there for my family, and learning to slow down.

Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the fitness and wellness field? In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellness?

My teachings are about mental wellness and integrating mind and body. We use an approach where we’re not defying the spiritual, emotional, and mental relational aspect from the physical body. Everything is connected.

So, I teach the physiology and psychology signs that help understand the body such as the threat response system, the tolerance system, and how to tune into your body’s messages.

I teach students to become the embodiment of love and vibrate at the love frequency. When you learn to do this and encompass that positive self-talk, everything changes.

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

My biggest backbone is my husband, he is such a very caring, loving person. He’s always been incredibly supportive, even while I was having my breakthrough and transformation and becoming connected with my purpose work.

I’m thankful to have him as a partner; he’s someone I’ll be grateful for the rest of my life.

Ok thank you for that. Now let’s move to the focus of our interview. We all know it’s important to eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, exercise more, and get better sleep etc. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion, what are the 3 main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives?

The three main blockages are 1.) We self-sabotage, 2.) We don’t keep our goals in our subconscious mind, and 3.) We don’t set ourselves up for success.

Your goals need to be in your subconscious mind — that is where you act, that is where you see the results. So, for that to happen your goals need to be attached to an emotion, and that becomes your desired goal. We need to know our big ‘why.’ What is important to you, what are the health goals that you have?

We must figure out our big why and focus on it every day being deliberate and intentional.

Preparing yourself for success means changing at your core identity level, continuing to inform your subconscious mind of those goals, attaching emotion, and feeling and visualizing that goal.

Can you please share your “5 Non-Intuitive Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”?

  1. The first step is especially important is recognizing your negative talking. Ask yourself, “What am I telling myself today?” It’s important to recognize this early on so we can stop and recognize those fears and anxiety and face them head on.
  2. Secondly is to separate yourself from your thoughts. You can detach yourself from your ideas once you become aware of them. Your thoughts are temporary. Either through journaling, visualization, or positive self-talk we can escape from that black or white thinking, which often leads to either a reaction of panic to a situation, or irrational choices.
  3. The third thing that will really help you with your success is practicing gratitude, I cannot focus on this enough. For every dip you have, every challenge, and every negative thing, you must focus on two positives. This is how you will train your mind and your inner critic to set new neural pathways to success.
  4. The fourth point is to disconnect from technology. We all need to disconnect and make a commitment to ourselves to do so. A suitable time to do this is setting 30 minutes to an hour before bed and turning off our cellphones and devices. During this time, we can do something that honors ourselves, like expressing gratitude for the day, listing a few of the day’s accomplishments (even if they’re minor), and thinking of some goals for the following day. Write these things down or express them aloud. Also commit yourself during the first hour of the day to not check social media or browse on your phone and instead, do something you love. This has helped me immensely to take time for myself and connect with who I am. For me, it is dancing with my baby, listening to a meditation, or doing breathing exercises.
  5. The fifth step is journaling, and this is also a huge part. When we record what happens to us and it goes from us, to pen and paper, it helps release emotion and trapped energy. It is a healthy alternative to bottling up your emotions and not dealing with it, which only causes trauma for your body.

As an expert this might be obvious to you, but it would be instructive to articulate this for the public. Aside from weight loss, what are 3 benefits of daily exercise? Can you explain?

When I became a mom, I easily gained 40 pounds. In the beginning I was hard on myself. As I began to start loving my body and love myself for who I am, it helped me take that first step to becoming healthier.

It is important to act and have movement in your body. Do what you liked to do as a child. Did you like dancing? How about painting or reading a novel? And then do that.

Other aspects that will help motivate you to incorporate daily exercise is to be sure to have positive self-talk with yourself and keep it simple and focus. Whether it’s going out in nature for a walk it doesn’t have to be complex.

Movement in body, self-regulation and positive self-talk. These are the things on which I would focus.

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

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, by Joseph Murphy.

To achieve our goals, we need to get to our subconscious mind. Create a goal, attach an emotion and make it a desired goal. There is a lot of mindset work that needs to be done, in order to succeed.

The subconscious mind is susceptible to suggestion, which you can use to your benefit. Do you recall the first time you learned to ride a bike? It most certainly demanded your conscious mind’s undivided attention and focus. However, after a period, your subconscious is likely to have gotten the hang of things, and riding a bike became a natural, instinctive job.

This is an excellent example of conscious to unconscious learning, which is a fantastic tool to have at your disposal. It is simply a matter of harnessing the power of your subconscious mind via the repetition of positive ideas to use it.

Your subconscious mind is continuously working, and you may use its power to your advantage. This latent energy may assist you in dealing with any difficulty in your life, enhancing your mental and physical well-being.

Finally, the entire process is dependent on envisioning success and removing negative ideas.

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

“If you want to change the fruits, you will first have to change the roots. If you want to change the visible, you must first change the invisible.” — T. Harv Eker

We hold on to certain beliefs, it could be from childhood, or it could be from past painful experiences where we incurred some sort of trauma. If we can tweak our beliefs, we can rewire ourselves and create the life we want.

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?

I would love to meet up with Tony Robbins someday and just chatter about life. Maybe collaborate with him on a session, I would absolutely love that.

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

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dina-lobo/

https://www.transformationalspark.ca/transformational-spark-challenge

https://www.instagram.com/dinalobolewis/

https://www.facebook.com/dina.merryllobo

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

Women In Wellness: Dina Lobo on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Duygu Sefa of Babonbo On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Build a team with talented people who truly believe in your idea and put their whole heart and perseverance to make it a success.

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

Duygu Sefa, Founder and CEO of Babonbo, graduated from Bogazici University in Turkey and moved to Italy in 2007 to attend a master’s degree at Politecnico di Milano. Duygu continued to work for 10+ years in the multinational automotive sector as a Product Marketing Manager, Business Development Manager, and eventually Countrywide Manager. In 2017, upon returning from her first daughter’s maternity leave, she felt disconnected from work and wanting to start her own business. After traveling with her daughter, Duygu created the idea of a baby gear rental marketplace to ease the traveling experience for families and give an opportunity for moms to grow a business.

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

Parents spend too much on baby gear, especially when it’s their first time.

Between the influence of our friends & family and social media to have everything you (don’t) need, there is way too much pressure around them, an added stressor already worried new parents don’t need.

According to a study made by a baby gear brand in the UK, 90% of parents admitted they’d overspent on baby goods, with more than half of the total value of the goods wasted on items that were either not used at all, or not enough to warrant the amount spent! This has a negative impact, both economical and environmental.

By creating a platform where we have both increased the lifespan of baby equipment by sharing, and created a circular economy, Babonbo has fully disrupted the way we see the traditional child care equipment market. We’ve increased the utility of the equipment while decreasing consumption — it’s a revolutionary win-win.

Our Babonbo providers — those who rent out baby gear they no longer use — help start this circular movement. They earn money by helping other families access baby gear anytime, anywhere and help them save money by avoiding unnecessary purchases while saving the environment by decreasing consumption. Our growing community is rapidly expanding, now beyond Italy, which is where we first took root.

After each rental, Babonbo providers take care of their baby gear, check, clean and sanitize it. We ensure excellent service through our terms with providers and customer rating after each rental.

And wherever our local providers cannot reach, we, as Babonbo, deliver high quality baby equipment to the doorstep of our trusting customers. And because we are strongly based on trust and quality, most of our customers are recommended by other parents, who themselves trusted us. Word of mouth is a strong tool and we pride ourselves in noting that our customer retention and recommendation is higher than most companies. We see this as a sign of success.

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

Babonbo was born as an idea in April 2018, and I had already incorporated the company in the UK by July 2018 — way too quickly. I should have taken more time to validate the idea before moving forward with the incorporation.

After incorporation it took more than 1 year to implement a product solution because I wanted everything “almost” perfect before launching it. And I spent an important part of my personal savings on creating the first product.

Now that I am more experienced, I know that it was a funny mistake! There were many other ways for me to build a Minimum Viable product by spending less money and time just to demonstrate the problem exists and people pay for the solution quickly. After that, I could have searched for an initial capital to build a more sophisticated tech solution without spending too much from my own pocket.

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?

When I decided to work effectively on my idea while I was still a full-time employer at a corporate company, I knew almost nothing about startups and the ecosystem around it. This led me to apply for the Founder Institute, an idea-stage accelerator and global launch network that helps entrepreneurs create meaningful and enduring technology companies.

I can’t begin to express how much this helped me. From learning how to launch a winning company, to creating a local and global network in the startup ecosystem quickly from 0 to 100, this has tremendously benefited my growth and success.

The Founder Institute’s Milan chapter directors, Peter Lazou and Maria Matloub, were always there when I needed during, but also after the program, and their local and global network of mentors has always been extremely supportive.

After that, my startup was incubated virtually by Polihub, the Innovation Park & Startup Accelerator of Politecnico di Milano. During and after, Polihub mentors were also very supportive in helping me reposition my business model with the unexpected turn of events the pandemic brought to our lives. Once again, a strong support system that helped me solidify strong foundations.

Having an experienced mentor or an advisor is so important in the journey of an entrepreneur. Without a doubt, the most impactful mentor and advisor that I had, and still have today, is Volkan Bicer. He always believed in my commitment and hard work, which led him to believe in me and Babonbo, as he became one of the first seed-stage investors.

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

I believe disruption is positive if it brings benefits to society, planet, and improves the life of people, health and education, while decreasing our impact on the environment, the gap of inequalities we are all faced with.

I think we, entrepreneurs, have a very good guideline provided by the United Nations, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which state that we cannot only rely on our country’s policies and regulations to do good. We are all responsible for disrupting the existing non-sustainable markets and economies to create our own sustainable ones.

There is a long road ahead of us, but if we all create something meaningful from the start, we will all contribute to impact our world.

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

  • Build a business which gives you passion every day. I heard this advice for the first time from my FI Milan Director, Peter Lazou. During a session in which we were practicing pitching our ideas, he said: “When you pitch your idea, you should be able to make your audience get goose bumps (excite them). And this can happen only if you are passionate about your idea” This is so true. The only way to excite people when you talk about your idea, this is also true when you present your idea to investors, is by being passionate about it and transmitting your excitement to them. Entrepreneurship is about finding solutions to problems arising almost everyday, or trying to overcome many obstacles coming your way to success. And dealing with all these is not easy, it is so tiring and frustrating. If I was not passionate about what I am doing everyday, I would have given up already.
  • Don’t cut corners and spend the necessary time networking and creating meaningful relationships, it’s important. One of my female mentors in the Polihub Mommyprenuers program that I participated in while I was on maternity leave, told me and other moms in the classroom : “Networking is one of the most effective tools to overcome many challenges that women entrepreneurs face such as accessing to financial, human and social capital . And women should dedicate more time and energy than men in building networks to overcome these challenges easier. On my entrepreneurial journey, I see and meet more and more women, not only, who work to empower women to close this gender gap. And this is so encouraging.
  • Build a team with talented people who truly believe in your idea and put their whole heart and perseverance to make it a success. My first attempt to build a team when I had only an idea was a failure. I think the main reason was that the focus of the other 2 people with whom I was trying to be a team was more financial gain than being part of a journey of creating something new and meaningful which touches the lives of people. It took a very long time for me to build the right team with people putting their heart everyday to make Babonbo a success, because they believe in the vision of Babonbo.

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

We have officially launched the Babonbo app, now available worldwide, including the US! The process is simple: you sign up and complete your profile, for free with the help of one of Babonbo’s consultants. Once your items are uploaded, you choose when and how parents can book. Monitor and plan the logistics surrounding the rental, and reap all the benefits of your labor. Connecting families from different countries and states, the platform creates an incredible way to earn passive income, and gratification from helping other families travel with ease and comfort.

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

Women have to juggle everything and it becomes really difficult finding the perfect balance between raising children, nurturing our family, yet being able to disrupt the world and change the status quo.

The responsibilities at home are truly a very demanding full time job as it is, so adding to that the responsibility to shake an entire industry up, it’s like moving mountains. Most of us are expected to be able to handle it all — but do you want to know the crazy part of it all? We actually do.

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

It is when I decided to change my career path from being a corporate worker to an entrepreneur.

When I finally got back to work from maternity leave from my first daughter, I found out that my role and responsibilities were changed from being globally responsible for the most important product line of the company to a less strategic operative role. I was so worried about this change and decided to talk about my HR manager at that time. She basically told me that I had new priorities in my life by that time and I could not handle a global positioning which requires a lot of traveling etc. It took me a lot of time to digest it and at the end I realized that it was not the right place for me anymore and I took the decision to dedicate my energy in creating my own venture instead of trying to advance in my corporate career.

This had a deep impact on my thinking: Don’t allow anyone else to set my limits and define priorities in my own life. And I took that anger and turned into energy and motivation to try for the first time to realize my ideas.

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. 🙂

Well, Babonbo IS a movement. We are changing the way we consume for our kids, which is completely wrong and not good for their future. By perpetuating this consumerism and detrimental environmental cycle, we are actually affecting the future of the very own beings we are trying to cherish. By starting from day 1, and changing our core beliefs, we are reprogramming an entire mentally that has been outdated for decades.

We are also creating a loving and supporting community of parents, especially mothers who usually can feel so isolated. They are inspiring each other, supporting each other in their quest to a more responsible and sustainable future for our children. By doing so, we created a support system that empowers parents to become more conscious and responsible consumers everyday. I believe as moms, we should be the first ones to change and be the change we want to see in the world. We have a responsibility to show the example to our children, and lead the way.

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

“If You Are Working On Something That You Really Care About, You Don’t Have To Be Pushed. The Vision Pulls You.” — Steve Jobs

This quote is very close to my heart, especially right now as this perfectly relates to the moment of life I currently am in. I quit all the benefits and the safety of a full time

job, fully aware of all the economical risks, and high probability of failure.

It’s a lot of work, and I have to sacrifice a lot of my free time in order to manage both my house, my children and family, and the obligations I have to my other baby, Babonbo. Sometimes, this requires me to do so day and night, weekends and sometimes, even in my sleep! But all in all, I know this is not only an investment in my future, but in the future of my children, and the world’s children. Which itself is an investment in everyone’s future.

How do I manage to resist the urge of slowing down and taking a minute to breathe? I don’t. People around me often wonder too, but the truth is that I am so passionate, that nothing could stop me from succeeding and accomplishing what I care most about, improving lives by providing a solution which is good for the Earth and the future of our kids.

How can our readers follow you online?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/duygu-sefa/

https://en.babonbo.com/

https://www.instagram.com/babonbo.baby/

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

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

Female Disruptors: Joan Breibart of PhysicalMind Institute On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up…

Female Disruptors: Joan Breibart of PhysicalMind Institute On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

I’m an inventor. Joe Pilates was an inventor. People don’t like change so they don’t want innovation. Inventors have to invent. They don’t fix something because it’s broken. They just change it. Maybe this is not always good. In exercise, someone takes sitting on a stationary bike and adds weights and a new color and suddenly it is all the rage. Real inventors laugh at this “disruption.” I re-invented and patented Joe’s Wunda Chair. It is called the Mve. Most Pilates teachers are afraid to use it because it is really changed.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Joan Breibart, founder of PhysicalMind Institute and 80Bites. Breibart is a Pilates professional, inventor with nine patents and nine trademarks, a published author of fiction and nonfiction and an editor of 50 plus books. Breibart began her career at Scholastic Magazines and Books in 1963, upon graduation from college with a major in Art History. She remained in publishing for 10 years, then was recruited for the HQ staff at ITT and has spent the past 46 years in the beauty and body businesses.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I can’t say my career had a pre-planned path; it just happened along the way while I was trying to earn a living, I found myself in various companies big and small and in line and staff positions. Although Pilates is a household name now, it was unknown in 1991 when I started the Institute for the Pilates Method in Santa Fe NM.

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

I am trying to break through the collective wellness protection racket to the truth about weight loss. I did it in the 90s with Pilates, which was ridiculed — even hated — until it birthed a new category –BodyMind fitness. I did it in 1968 when I started Creative Book Service — a company employed by major educational publishers like McGraw Hill and Prentice Hall to outsource production on subsidiary texts. Today this is an accepted book production solution.

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?

In 1992, I decided to get a New Mexico State vanity license plate with the name “PILATES.” It was yellow with the Pilates name –then trademarked — in red letters. Obviously, a trademark held by someone else shouldn’t have been on a license plate, but New Mexico is kind of backward and didn’t know trademarks. I had a little sports car and in 1992 someone came up to me when it was parked and asked me why I had the name of that horrible person and I realized they were thinking Pontius Pilate and Jesus. I knew then and the years that followed confirmed that I had used a name that no one knew. I suffered ten years of legal assaults and lost practically everything — including a lucrative contract with Nordic Track — then the Peloton of exercise — because I over-estimated the public. Plus, it’s a terrible name!! I still have this license plate. I don’t have a car, but I have it on my wagon at my house on Fire Island. Now everyone recognizes my wagon by its name.

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

We’re talking about this journey, and I don’t know whether that’s referring to the past 30 years when I’ve been in what I call the diet and exercise business (now euphemized to be wellness). I wouldn’t call this a journey. That’s not a word my generation — I am 80 years old — would use. It was a battle. And I think being an entrepreneur is a battle. A friend who started a skincare business which became very successful described it as being at the bottom of a pit. And as you get to the top and slide your fingertips over the edge someone steps on your fingers and you fall back. So “journey” again may be just a nice term for what is normally a very difficult way to earn a living. As for mentors, my two sons who are very successful have helped. The older is a music big shot and the younger is a real estate developer. My husband, when he was alive, helped me too. He was on the board of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and an owner of Graphis.

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

I’m an inventor. Joe Pilates was an inventor. People don’t like change so they don’t want innovation. Inventors have to invent. They don’t fix something because it’s broken. They just change it. Maybe this is not always good. In exercise, someone takes sitting on a stationary bike and adds weights and a new color and suddenly it is all the rage. Real inventors laugh at this “disruption.” I re-invented and patented Joe’s Wunda Chair. It is called the Mve. Most Pilates teachers are afraid to use it because it is really changed.

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

I was told to remember P.T. Barnum line that a sucker is born every minute. Almost a decade into the BodyMind revolution, a new gym called CRUNCH was launched. Pilates and Yoga people laughed, but the public embraced it when crunching contradicted all the new body truth. In 1991 after two decades of collective dieting, the public having gained an average of 20 pounds per person, quit nutrient manipulations. I cheered until a very smart former Weight Watchers executive told me that they would all be back. Again, I overestimated the public. Winston Churchill said, “Americans always do the right thing after they have tried everything else!” If so, I am waiting for them to recognize the new science: forget calories, hormones rule.

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

There won’t be a next unless my current shake up is accepted. Dead people have very little purchasing power. Sixty percent of the U.S. population is obese. Fifty percent have diabetes or are pre-diabetic. Dr. Fauci knows the real numbers, but he is unable to fess up since the CDC manipulated the Body Mass Index.

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

It’s a male world. When I worked at ITT and was for a time the only female executive, I saw how the men protected each other. They still do. They don’t compete in the way one expects. Anthropologist Ashley Montague in his book, “The Natural Superiority of the Female Sex” explains what men know so they band together to keep it secret.

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

I have several:

Up the Organization by Robert Townsend

Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber

FactFulness by Hans Rosling

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

They didn’t teach me anything. They confirmed by instincts. That is very comforting for an iconoclast in a country of followers, phonies and PC people.

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. 🙂

Well, most of the world has already figured it out. America is the exception. Ninety percent of China’s 1.3 billion have no faith. Most of Europe has walked on religion. It is estimated that by the end of the 21stCentury, religion will be over. Free at last. But I am afraid the USA will be the last holdout.

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

“Rich or poor — it’s good to have money.” — Lawrence Breibart (my father)

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

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

Female Founders: Andrea Heuston of Artitudes Design On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and…

Female Founders: Andrea Heuston of Artitudes Design On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

A Kickass Outfit — You need an outfit that makes you feel like you can own the world when you wear it. It adds to your confidence level. It’s the outfit that makes you feel like a superhero; this is your uniform, this is your costume, and you are who you need to be to rule the world in that outfit. I have a pair of pants that I call my Super Woman pants. If I really need some good mojo, if I’m going to be speaking in front of a crowd or giving a big presentation, it’s what I wear. I also have a floral pantsuit that is one of my superhero costumes. It’s hard to have a bad day when I’m wearing it.

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

Andrea is the founder and CEO of Artitudes Design, an experiential design firm that works with Fortune 500 companies (Microsoft, Starbucks and Expedia to name a few) as well as startups and non-profits. She is also is the creator and host of the podcast, Lead Like a Woman, where she interviews female leaders and entrepreneurs who share their tips on life, leadership and entrepreneurship. She is passionate about empowering women and helping to close the gender gap for women in business.

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?

At 24 I was putting myself through college and running the creative services department at an energy systems engineering firm in Seattle when the company was purchased by a French firm. They had me lay off the entire team of seven designers and then laid me off. However, two days later they called me back and said we made a mistake — we need to do some rebranding and we need you to come back. I decided I didn’t want to put my fate in somebody else’s hands anymore, so I jumped in my car, drove 60 minutes to Olympia, the state capitol, got a business license, and the energy systems firm became my first client.

I also grew up with a father who had traditional values around gender roles, favoring female domesticity over entrepreneurship and leadership. He didn’t believe that women should be in business. The realization that I could run a company and I could do it well was also the attraction, motivation, and inspiration for founding Artitudes Design.

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

In 2008, I started the year off in the emergency room. In March I had surgery. In April I had more surgery. On May 30th, I became very ill. Three days, one misdiagnosis, three emergency rooms, two ambulance rides, and one very concerned husband later, I was in surgery yet again. I didn’t wake up from that surgery for nearly 3 weeks. I had aspirated on the operating table, contracted pneumonia, which then turned into Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome or ARDS. ARDS is similar to SARS. It turns the lungs to stone. The doctors put me into a medically induced coma until my lungs could recover. At the time, ARDS had an over 70% fatality rate.

I don’t remember anything from that time. Except for some very vivid, medication-induced dreams! My husband and family remember it all. I woke up and met Dr. Stuart — the head of the hospital. (You know you’re really sick when the head of the hospital takes you on personally!) Dr. Stuart said to me, “I’m so happy to meet you because I didn’t really think I’d ever get a chance to.” I had no idea how ill I’d been until that moment. It was a long road back to health, and I missed over 8 months of work in 2008.

During that time, something amazing happened. The enthusiasm and passion I had breathed into Artitudes Design kept the company alive — without me! My incredible team of talented, creative and yes, enthusiastic heroes pulled together and saved the day.

Prior to this experience I was a micromanager, a control freak. I used to touch at least 80% of all projects that came through our doors, but because of my illness, I was forced to step back and see where I could truly add the most value to the company, and where I could let others shine with their skills and enthusiasm. It’s changed the way I lead, and I believe that both Artitudes and I are better for that decision.

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?

That’s a hard one. My mistakes are always huge, but not amusing! For example, my first employee and my best friend embezzled money from me. Another employee interviewed so well that I didn’t check her references before hiring her and she ended up throwing a chair at a contractor working for us at the time and I almost got sued. They’re funny in hindsight but were no laughing matter at the time. However, I learn so much from my mistakes. They’ve taught me resilience and made me a better person and leader.

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?

My Grandma Gerry was a powerful woman for her time in the 40s and 50s. She raised two boys on her own after her husband left her. She needed to work so marched down to Boeing and got a job operating a huge computer back in the day when computers were the size of a room and few women worked, let alone at a male-dominated company like Boeing.

When I spoke to my grandmother about starting my own business, she was incredibly supportive. She loaned me 5,000 dollars to start the business which was a huge amount of money to her. I paid her back, with interest. She insisted on interest. Smart lady.

She was a major influence in my life. She was never a victim. I really respect that about her. A lot of people are victims in this world, and they look at life as being bad to them. That wasn’t my grandmother. She would pick herself up and deal with whatever life threw at her. And throughout my many tough life lessons I’ve kept that in mind. That power to choose our reaction to anything the world hands us forms the basis of my book, Stronger on the Other Side: A Guide to Getting from Victim to Champion.

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?

I think there are a lot of things that are holding back women from founding companies. First, we don’t have a lot of role models. Founders of businesses are almost always white men. Because it’s not what we have in our purview, we don’t think it’s possible. It’s not that it’s not possible, it’s that we just don’t see it often enough to believe it ourselves.

Secondly, the societal norms are still that women are expected to be the house, the hearth, the home, and still expected to run the family. It is changing and the new generation that’s coming into the workforce believes that anything is possible which I absolutely love. But overall, that expectation that women will run the home is still there and that can get in the way of their ability to have the time and energy to found a company.

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?

We need government subsidized childcare for families so women who want to can get back to work or found companies. Incubating a baby and incubating a business are both incredibly hard things and we need to provide resources and support that make it easier to do both. The cost of childcare is prohibitive, and families often decide that one parent should stay home. Almost exclusively the man makes more money. So, when as a couple you have to make the decision of who’s going to stay home, you go for the lower wage earner.

Secondly, we need better access to capital for women and more education about it, so women know what’s out there and how to get it. Women almost exclusively bootstrap their companies. When men have an idea and want start something they’ll ask their friends and their family for money or they’ll go out and seek Angel or VC funding, but women historically bootstrap because a) they don’t think they’ll get it, and b) they’re afraid to ask and afraid to incur debt.

Access to capital is one of the biggest things that works against women — they either don’t see the access, or they can’t find it. There are a ton of grants for women who are in business or starting businesses, but they’re really hard to find. I’ve spent hours and hours on the Washington State grants page looking for a grant that’s specifically for women owned entities that other women founders told me about, but it’s buried so deep I can’t find it.

There need to be more programs like the Office of Women’s Business Ownership (OWBO) which helps women entrepreneurs through programs coordinated by SBA district offices. The more things like that that are available and visible and publicized, the more likely we are to be to go 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?

Women bring so much to the table — as founders and as executives. Women are both empowering and inclusive. They are generally more inclusive of ideas, of people, and of different thought processes, and more likely to challenge the status quo, so you get a stronger company with that. Also, companies that have women at the helm or women on their board make more money than companies that don’t. Other benefits according to The Harvard Business Review are that companies with more women in senior positions are also more socially responsible, and provide safer, higher-quality customer experiences.

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

One of the myths is that you must be focused on your business 100% of the time for it to be successful, but that’s absolutely not true. Being able to focus on yourself and your family and your mental and physical health will make you a stronger leader and make your business stronger. A lot of people say, ‘it’s going take all your time, you’re going to take away from your family, you’re not going to have time for anybody anymore’. That is utterly untrue, that is a decision you make on your own — there are super successful female founders who work 20 hours a week.

The other myth is that you have to know everything about everything. You categorically don’t. The best thing you can do as a founder is surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Don’t ever be the smartest person in the room, because if you don’t believe there’s room to grow, you never will. I think that it’s vitally important because a lot of people, especially men, want to be the smartest person in the room. But if you’re not open to somebody else’s ideas or looking at something a different way that could make your company bigger, faster, stronger, better, you’ll at best limit your growth and at worst, fail all together.

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?

Oh, it’s definitely not for everyone! To be a successful founder you need to get over the fear of failure. You must believe that if you fall down six times, you get up seven. That’s such a trite quote, but it’s really true. If you look at something and you say, ‘What if I fail… What if I lose this?’ you’ll be paralyzed. You have to go through that exercise in your head that says, ‘What’s the worst thing that can happen?’ and the worst thing that can happen is you lose the business. You need to be ok with that and say, “hey, I’ll just do something else, or I’ll start a new one.” Setbacks fuel growth and future success and you need to believe in that with every fiber of your being.

There are some people who like clear parameters and direction — they like to color inside the lines. When you tell them what needs to be done, they can execute brilliantly, but they need that roadmap.

That is the opposite of what a founder does — a founder is always looking to color outside the lines, to push into uncharted territory. I’m not saying there’s not an element of entrepreneurship in a lot of jobs these days and people asking how they can do things better in order to succeed, but it’s different when you’re a founder. You have to be comfortable with the unknown and be able to jump off the building and trust that you’re going to make it, that you’re going to fly.

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.)

Confidence

As Sheryl Sandberg once famously said, “no one gets to the corner office by sitting on the side, not at the table.” As girls and women, historically we have been taught to defer to men. Forget that notion! The “nice girl” attitude you may have learned growing up doesn’t work in business, and customers, leaders and clients may tend doubt your abilities or, worse yet, try to take advantage of you. You need to own the table. Learn to walk into any room or situation with your head held high confident that you are an equal, an expert in your field, that you deserve a place at the table.

A Tribe

We all need support, but female leaders especially need their tribe! Your tribe is as unique as you are, but I suggest surrounding yourself with people who support but also question you. You should have a banker, a lawyer, a CPA, a bookkeeper and a coach. And you absolutely need a girlfriend you can cry with and drink with. In my role as CEO and founder, it’s taken me a long time to understand that I need female peers, business partners, friends, a female community. From a book club to an all-woman business group to nurturing friendships in my life, actively seeking out a supportive female community is one of the best things I’ve ever done to contribute to my own success and well-being.

You also need to hear the hard truth sometimes. Your friends/tribe can see your crap and call you on it when you can’t see it yourself. When you have trusted people around you, they’ll be the first ones to see your patterns, good or bad. Your best source of an objective opinion is your trusted group of supportive women that don’t have any other objective but your well-being.

Thick Skin

You have to have thick skin, because every person in your life is going to question you, they’re going to say: ‘Why are you doing this? Why don’t you just get a job? Why don’t you leave that to somebody else? What makes you think you can do that? Who’s raising your children right now? Shouldn’t you be making dinner?’ And when you’re assertive you’ll be called a bitch or bossy. It’s an endless litany of barbs. There’s always judgement about women. You need that thick skin, and you need to be able to laugh at yourself and let it roll off.

Creativity

It doesn’t matter if you’re a scientist or if you run a design firm, you have to be creative in your conversations, you have to be creative in how you present issues and solutions, you have to be creative in the way that you look for funding, and you have to be creative in how you juggle the demands of home and work. Creativity fuels big ideas and opens the door to new business opportunities.

A Kickass Outfit

You need an outfit that makes you feel like you can own the world when you wear it. It adds to your confidence level. It’s the outfit that makes you feel like a superhero; this is your uniform, this is your costume, and you are who you need to be to rule the world in that outfit. I have a pair of pants that I call my Super Woman pants. If I really need some good mojo, if I’m going to be speaking in front of a crowd or giving a big presentation, it’s what I wear. I also have a floral pantsuit that is one of my superhero costumes. It’s hard to have a bad day when I’m wearing it.

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

I’m passionate about empowering women to empower others and that’s really what I’m trying to do with my podcast, Lead Like a Woman. My goal is to help women recognize and realize their own power. I believe wholeheartedly that when we listen to women, we get a fuller story than when we listen to men. And that’s not to say that men’s ideas and voices are wrong or bad. That’s not at all what I’m trying to say. Rather, women have a different insight and different approach to things, and if we can inspire women to empower other people, the world will be a better place. Mainly because they will be listened to on a different level. Women see things that men don’t see because they’re deeper into the trenches generally of their lives, their families’ lives, of anywhere where the fringes are in society. Women when they get together can do incredible things. Men can, but there’s a little more jockeying.

How can our readers further follow you online

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreaheuston/

http://andreaheuston.com

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.

If I could inspire a movement, it would be around the idea that feminism is stronger when all people support it — all genders, all colors, all political parties. When women rise, society benefit. Closing the gender gap in pay and societal roles can raise the GDP by 35%, according to the World Economic Forum. There is a rising tide for equality, and even equity in gender roles. I believe that it needs to be bigger, louder, and bolder in order to see some sort of parity within the next 100 years.

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.

Melinda Gates. I’m so impressed with what she’s doing to elevate women in this world. Everyone can learn from her. She continuously steps out of her comfort zone and listens and learns from the people she’s helping. She’s very humble and open to feedback and I don’t know many people in a position like hers that are so open to critical feedback. I’d LOVE to have her as a guest on my podcast.

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

Female Founders: Andrea Heuston of Artitudes Design On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Meredith Noble of The Grant Writing Unicorn Collective On The Three Things You…

Female Disruptors: Meredith Noble of The Grant Writing Unicorn Collective On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Focus. Focus, and then focus some more. Especially if you are a Visionary! Oh, it is hard. Even when you think you are focused, it’s so easy to sway here and there.

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

Meredith is an entrepreneur, author, community leader, and outdoor adventurer. She is the co-founder of the Grant Writing Unicorn Collective, an online professional development program for aspiring grant writers. She is part of a new wave of pioneers building technology companies from remote, yet connected Valdez, Alaska.

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?

When I quit my corporate job in 2017, I had a sexy business idea in mind. I was going to learn to code and build an app! I cringe sharing that — today, it seems so cliché!

Before pursuing life as an entrepreneur, I built a grant writing team at a large global architecture and engineering firm where I won $42 million in grants for infrastructure projects throughout the United States and Canada. It was a great career, but I had burned out and wanted to be more than a one trick pony. When I left, I pledged to never touch another grant.

Never say never. Fast forward and I’m teaching grant writing to thousands of incredible community leaders throughout the world. That experience, and the experiences of other entrepreneurs, showed me that your first business idea is rarely the one you eventually scale.

Within months I was teaching live workshops. During one, I said I was interested in making my course an online training business. An hour later I had Facebook ads for an online course platform. (Creepy how that works!) I signed up for a 30-day trial on the spot and was off to the races learning how to build an online course-based business.

If you were to list the top 100 mistakes a course creator can make, I made 99 of them. The business model of an online course is so obvious that I thought success should be easy — let me tell you — it is not.

In August of 2020, I brought on Alex Lustig as a cofounder. Despite taking a 35% pay cut, Alex chose to come work with me, and it felt like one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. Her willingness to risk the security of making her mortgage payment to join me was validation that we must be onto something.

With the horsepower of two, we got to work scaling the online course. We took action on every idea we had to achieve scale and nothing was working. We got to the point where we had only six weeks of runway left (an entrepreneur term for money left in the bank.)

We knew something had to change or we would be out of business. This sense of failure was disorienting and overwhelming. I had already published a #1 bestselling book on Amazon for nonprofit fundraising and grant writing and launched a $100k course.

I learned that businesses grow in phases. Often what works for one phase of growth, will not continue to work in the future. Growth is certainly not linear!

We reassessed and thought about who we really enjoyed serving. We realized we far preferred teaching how to build a freelance grant writing business over general grant writing knowledge to anyone. We were inspired and motivated to serve those that are burnt out in their 9–5 work and looking for something else that is meaningful and flexible.

In a three week sprint during the darkest month of the year in Alaska, we dug in deep and completely overhauled our business. We relaunched on January 1 this year and nine months later, we hit $42,000 in monthly recurring revenue. Not a bad turnaround considering we almost gave up.

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

Absolutely. We are playing a role in disrupting the higher-education industry, work-from-home industry, and online course creator industry. Here’s how:

First, let’s talk about higher ed. I love the beauty of a college campus and all that it symbolizes for a prosperous and educated nation. That said, I’m afraid our higher education has fallen woefully behind in providing an employable, actionable and relevant education for a large percentage of our populace.

Frankly, programs like ours are a real threat to traditional college offerings. We had a young woman sign up for the Grant Writing Unicorn Collective who had done one year of college before dropping out, and she was undecided about returning or not. She had expected vibrant conversation in the classroom and inspiring educators. Instead the experience was stale, and it felt like no one wanted to be there. She didn’t feel like it was the rich learning environment that she was paying the hefty price tag to have. So, at 19, she decided to join our program instead of pursuing a traditional degree. More commonly, we are the choice between going back to graduate school or not.

We are also taking on the titans of grant writing education as a scrappy startup from Alaska. Our largest competitors have held the market for years despite having clunky, 1990’s looking websites. We are showing that getting an education can be fun and professional. One of our main competitors used to get 6,000 unique website visitors per month. One year later, they get 2,000 viewers and our viewership has grown to 6,000 unique visitors. We are proud and excited to be taking up Google search real-estate with our website.

Speaking of which, our website brings us hundreds of “free” leads per month, which is the number one struggle for course creators. We went from having 140 organic keywords last year to over 3,700 today. We are ranked #1 on Google now for nearly all the keywords we wanted. We have the Startup Kit for SaaS in Golang to thank for our powerhouse website. Plus, I fulfilled my goal to learn how to code. I love the empowering feeling I get when I write and push code changes.

Lastly, we know we are doing things differently in the online course world when it comes to branding. Most online courses use the founder’s name as their domain and throughout their branding. I knew early on that I didn’t want to do that. It seemed ironic to me that most people seek freedom when starting a business, but tethering their identity to the brand means they can never venture too far. Instead, and by accident, we developed a persona that has taken on a life of its own. It’s the Grant Writing Unicorn, a character that is aspirational, fun, and energized. Frankly, it has now become a movement of people that identify as grant writing unicorns!

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 am not sure if this is really a mistake or if it was the biggest blessing of my life, but when I quit my corporate job to launch a startup, I made the mistake of letting healthcare paperwork nearly stop me in my tracks. I live an active lifestyle, so I needed health insurance. Like five surgeries in the last five years from breaking things while biking or rollerblading! 🤦‍♀️

After submitting my application, Healthcare.gov wanted better documentation for my income projection. As the numbers started to take shape on my spreadsheet, I panicked. My runway budget was just enough to cover a few months. I had no idea how I would support myself beyond that. I felt like I had failed before I even started.

The next day, I was backcountry skiing in Alaska. I was on top of a scary couloir, which is a narrow stretch of skiable snow between two mountains.

As I looked into the couloir, the earliest stages of panic started to creep in. My heartbeat was increasing. I wondered if I had finally met the limits of my capabilities.

Panic is bad news. It can lead to a paralysis of sorts, which is an especially big problem when you are miles from help. I knew I couldn’t let this happen, so I engaged in my favorite bad habit when stressed: eating bacon and chocolate.

As the bacon fat dissolved in my mouth, I warmed up and regained my composure. I asked for the radio and announced I was going first.

I needed to start skiing so the fear and anxiety taking hold of my psyche would not have a chance to fully control me. I ratcheted down my ski boots and gingerly made my first few turns through the chattery snowpack. As I dropped out of sight from the boys, the snow became a soft, buttery delight to ski. I was emotionally transported. I remembered why I love to ski!

That night I was journaling about the day when I realized the scary couloir was a metaphor for my life. Only a month into my new life as an entrepreneur, I was at the top of the run. Everything said, “turn around and go back to safety, you fool!” I learned that day that I just needed to make a few turns. A little further in, I had better information and confidence in my ability to deal with it all.

From my journal I wrote:

The key takeaway from the day is how proud I am for overcoming my fears in the couloir and tapping into my mental strength… I feel a renewed sense that I can do this. At no point was I thinking about anything but the act of skiing. Whether I was pep-talking myself to keep up with the boys, admiring the rugged views, or enjoying every turn, it was amazing how rewarding and effective I felt with a singular focus.

Since that memorable day skiing, I have been relying on positive self-talk and action to get me through trying moments.

While you might not be skiing tricky terrain, you and anyone reading this, is pushing themselves in some way. Whether you are in the parking lot deciding to climb the mountain, or you are already on top ready to pee your pants, you will get to the other side. We only need to make a few turns.

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

I cannot believe I’m quoting Tim Ferris because he is a bit too “bro” for my taste, but my dear mentor, Dave Bennett, shared this with me when I was deciding to quit my job:

“For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn’t conspire against you, but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. “Someday” is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it “eventually,” just do it and correct course along the way.” — Tim Ferris, 4-Hour Work Week.

I wasn’t “ready” to quit my corporate job when I did. I felt like I still needed more experience, more savings, more everything. That said, I also realized I was 27 with no kids or debt. If not now, when?

I now teach aspiring grant writers how to start building a new career as a side-hustle. Our flywheel takes energy and time to build momentum. It is helpful to experiment on the side to gain business acumen that you can only gain from real-world experience. Once you have traction (ideally tangible product market fit), then you can leap into the abyss feeling more prepared.

That segues into another favorite one-liner that I got from my dad, Carroll David Noble. I grew up 5th generation on a cattle ranch in Wyoming. Imagine me at 14 years old (really I don’t look any different at 31!) out in the hay fields during harvest. I was running an old 1956 tractor to put hay into windrows. My job required staying ahead of the stacking crew (the team that put the hay into the haystacks). But the crew kept catching me, and I was growing frustrated. You can only bounce around so fast in a hayfield!

My father flags me down and explains that there is a pattern in the hay if I look for it. His advice was to “make each move count.” Once I started looking for the patterns, I could see them. I became more efficient and the gap grew between me and the stacking crew.

You can do the same thing.

Our life is a series of patterns if we look for them. Patterns to healthy living. Patterns to showing up in our businesses. Patterns in our relationships. If we are intentional about making each move count, we can get quite a lot done in a day, week, year, or decade!

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?

Taking it back to the cattle ranch, I think we were in the last 1% of ranchers to make the technology switch from loose stack hay to round bales. Loose hay meant our hay was put up “loosely” in a cabin-like structure, piled high until it looked like a thatch roof. Every winter, we would pitch the hay off a wagon for the cattle with a pitchfork.

Sounds idyllic, right? In many ways, it was. Big work horses pulling a sleigh through sparkling snow is one of the most beautiful sights you can imagine.

You might also think, “That sounds like a lot of work!” You would be right about that, but you should have seen my six-pack abs! The physical labor was wearing my family down, so we eventually moved to storing hay in 2,000 pound round bales.

By being a late adopter (practically the last, I swear!), most kinks in baling technology had worked themselves out. We learned from other ranchers that made the switch earlier on, and we bought the best technology and equipment available.

My family’s ranching operation is an example of a business that has not changed much in over 100 years. There is something beautiful about how the routines of the seasons are on repeat from generation to generation. We care for the land deeply and will do pretty much anything to keep it from becoming a subdivision.

That said, every industry has a timeline before you change, or die. Beyond how my family gets their fabulous beef product to market, there are larger system changes happening, or needing to happen, in food production that feel imminent.

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

#1 Focus. Focus, and then focus some more. Especially if you are a Visionary! Oh, it is hard. Even when you think you are focused, it’s so easy to sway here and there.

The best advice I received from Dan Martell’s SaaS Accelerator was thinking about focus like this:

  • One Product
  • One Market
  • One Channel
  • One Conversion Tool
  • One Year

That means, you must focus on one ideal customer, with one product (in our case an online membership), through one main distribution channel (SEO), and one conversion tool (a webinar), for one year, or until hitting 1,000 customers.

Trust me, I know the struggle. I like to try new things as well, but often we quit an idea before it has time to get perfected. This also applies to who you serve and what you do. You should have one product for one customer. You can build a $1 million dollar business by keeping things simple and focused.

Focus. Focus with laser intensity. Doing so will be your competitive advantage.

#2 Solve for Your Customer’s Deep Desire. Our original product taught our customers the technical skills behind grant writing, but that was only a fraction of what they needed and wanted. They wanted to know how to actually pull off a career transition. After 25+ deep dive interviews and dissecting the exact words used by our ideal customer, we discovered what they really wanted: a flexible and fulfilling life.

Here is the tangible tip for you to run with: schedule 20 interviews with your ideal customer. Record the call. Use a service like Temi to transcribe the call. Aggregate all interviews into a single Google Doc and study it! Highlight the deep pains and aspirations. Then put the entire interview document into a unique word counter (lots of these are free online), and figure out which words are used most often. Build your single “what you do” sentence and who you do it for, with those words/phrases.

A template we learned from Haley Burkhead of Recurring Profit is: We help [unique identity] achieve [tangible transformation] so they can [avoid #1 pain or achieve #1 desire]. Use those words and phrases in your email copy, website, and talking points!

As I mentioned earlier, we went from a failing business model with six weeks of runway left to $42k in MRR in nine months. I attribute our turnaround to the previous two tips, plus getting our pricing right.

#3 Find the Integrator to your Visionary. Thanks to the book, Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman, I saw why my strong visionary tendencies made it hard for me to stick with anything long enough to see if it would work or not. Around the same time as I was listening to that book while hiking a mountainous trail in Alaska, a local project manager extraordinaire was helping me part-time run the business. It became exceedingly clear that she was (is) an Integrator. A power-house with skills in operations, execution, culture-building, and beyond.

Fast forward and that special project manager has become an indispensable soul-sister in life and rock in what is now our business. When she asked me “to talk” I thought what every woman thinks, “this can’t be good.” Instead, she asked to come work with me full-time, willing to take a huge pay cut to participate in the risk of startup life.

If it were not for the influence and hard work of my cofounder, Alex, we would not have a business today that is a fraction as successful. We are thankful for the book Rocket Fuel for giving us the guideposts to structure our approach to work and divvy responsibilities.

We also have the book, Slicing Pie by Mike Moyier to thank for providing guidance on how to split up equity in an early stage company. In my opinion, if you are interested in starting or growing a startup, Slicing Pie is the only truly fair way to approach it.

Here is a quick video on the top 5 pitfalls I see fellow Visionaries make and what to do about it.

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

I consider myself an entrepreneur-in-training. I often think about the Grant Writing Unicorn Collective as my business on training wheels. I feel like I am almost ready to take those training wheels off and take a stab at a second business.

My co-founder Alex and I have a few ideas. First, my business did not truly take off until I found Alex, the Integrator to my Visionary. We have observed that there are an infinite number of visionary online course creators, and they struggle to scale their business. They hire virtual assistants or temporary contractors, but quickly grow frustrated, feeling like they are doing more work managing a team than doing the work themselves.

We have a hypothesis that there is an opportunity to train Integrators (who have strikingly similar characteristics to grant writers!) for Visionaries that want a complimentary business partner.

More broadly, we know there are a number of career paths beyond grant writing that fit the unicorn lifestyle we represent. The unicorn lifestyle is having flexibility and freedom over your time, traveling, having hobbies, better health, and time with family — while also having meaningful work. It might seem like a lot to ask for, but now more than ever, it is possible. As such, we are curious what other businesses we could be partnering with to help make that way of living possible for more women.

Lastly, my personal dream is to become a housing developer that provides attainable housing intentionally designed for young professionals and seniors. Most housing in communities, other than large cities, are single residential family houses. This is far too much house for a young professional so you end up finding strangers to live with for years. Young people don’t need much space, but they want something that is relaxing, modern, and connected. Seniors that don’t want a big house to maintain anymore and don’t want to live in senior housing, also have limited options. We see a number of ways these two seemingly disparate generations are complimentary in addressing loneliness, depression, housing attainability, and lack of connectivity in their lives.

I can’t wait to tackle future ventures, but for now, 100% of my attention is on the Grant Writing Unicorn Collective. I practice what I preach when it comes to focusing!

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

My partner, Lucas Brown, started and grew a startup with his twin brother from their college dorm room to 360 employees in 10 different countries. I asked him if he had ever felt imposter syndrome as a young CEO and founder in his twenties. He said he didn’t recall feeling that way. Sure, there were moments, but on the whole, he did not.

I thought, if he didn’t feel imposter syndrome, (when it seems like he should have) then why is it that every single woman I speak with feels burdened by it? Why is she constrained and holding herself back by fears of not being good enough to create or seize the opportunities before her? I still do not have an answer for this, but if I could eradicate that feeling, I know more women would achieve higher and higher levels of fulfillment and success.

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

Yes! You are lucky that I am only on Chapter 3 of Breath — The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor or else this entire conversation could become a book report. Did you know that mouth breathing is the number one cause of cavities? To think all these years, I thought it was my chocolate addiction!

How about this one: nasal breathing allows you to absorb 18 percent more oxygen than breathing through the mouth. I have never exercised intensely while breathing through my nose, so on today’s bike ride to the grocery store up and down a few hills, I tried to not breath through my mouth. I felt like I was suffocating and would have to get a big gasp of air every few breaths. Within 20 minutes, however, I was able to breathe in and out of my nose continuously and feel less exhausted.

If you haven’t caught the punch line yet, it’s this: nasal breathing is unequivocally better for you than mouth breathing. Get a copy of the book and plan on reading it with a pen. I bet you have as many scribbles, underlines, and “wow’s!” in the margins as I do.

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. 🙂

Ha! Thanks for the generous accolades. Building off my comment earlier about the difference between female disruptors and male disruptors, I would inspire a movement that wholeheartedly rejects the effects of imposter syndrome. It is holding back too many people from reaching their potential.

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

This may come as a shock, but I was a royal trouble making, under-age drinking bandit in High School. I lied. I snuck out. I poured vodka into my pink lemonade at lunch.

I didn’t always outsmart my exhausted parents. My father would sit me down at the dinner table and ask me to think about why I was behaving the way I was. He would push me to think critically through reflection, and most importantly to take responsibility for my actions.

Taking responsibility has since become a core value, one that lives within my company and personal ethos. What I absolutely adore about the life lesson is how liberating it is. If something doesn’t go as planned, I reflect on the situation and look for ways I can improve.

Life is so much better when not weighed down with the energy required to blame others for anything we don’t like about ourselves or our lives. The trick with taking responsibility is that it requires active mindfulness to bring that perspective to a challenging situation — especially when you really feel wronged by someone else.

Plus, it doesn’t get much simpler than this for a life lesson: Take Responsibility!

How can our readers follow you online?

You can find me on Instagram @meredith.noble where I periodically show up to share life’s adventures in Alaska and beyond. Better yet, follow us @learngrantwriting where Alex and I more consistently show up. Rather not support Zuck’s platforms? Let’s connect on LinkedIn or through our website.

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

Female Disruptors: Meredith Noble of The Grant Writing Unicorn Collective On The Three Things You… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.