Day: March 27, 2022

Women In Wellness: Jessica Harrington of Journey To Yourself on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

SELF-AWARENESS: The awareness to know that what works for me may not work for you. For example, I LOVE to read. Reading is one of the best ways for me to regroup and relax. You may hate the smell of book stores and paperback books, and I want to breathe them in. My best friend loves those “color by numbers” and can spend hours working on one to relax. Me, just thinking about them makes me stressed.

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jessica Harrington MPH.

Jessica Harrington, MPH, is the owner of Journey to Yourself, a speaker, and stress management coach. Jessica educates others about stress by telling her story of growing up with addiction and mental health in her family, leading her to start her career in the drug and alcohol field. While growing her business, she divorced her high school sweetheart and realized how easy it is for us to put others’ needs and wants first, creating our own stress and unhappiness. After some time, and some healing, Jessica started Journey To Yourself.

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

Thanks for this opportunity to share. Yes, so I grew up with addiction and mental health in my household. The thing was, no one knew. No one knew because I always kept a smile on my face. No one knew about the pain and fear. I chose to show only happiness. The issue was, because I never let myself process the pain, I took this habit with me into my work and relationships. I married my high school sweetheart and again outside looking in, it was a “white picket fence” family. No one knew about the addiction within the household. I started working on myself, which led to opening my eyes that things needed to change. Divorce happened. I gave up my house we built together–everything from the relationship to the materials within. I took my car and dogs and left. After lots of tears and continuous healing, I started my business called Journey To Yourself.

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

The first thing that comes to my mind is the connections that I have made with other women and myself. Women share this incredible bond of supporting one another. Strong women want to help other women reach their dreams and be a shoulder to cry on. Just listen to another woman’s story and you will hear their strength and all they have overcome, and they will mention that one woman in their life that had helped them on the hard days. This could have been that stranger that became a friend, a sister, aunt, mom etc…

What also comes to mind that ties in with that is the day I took the chance, not to start the business, but actually take steps to grow my business. These steps included working on myself, the biggest one was asking for help. Who really likes asking for help, you know? This goes back to what I was just saying: women supporting other women is one of our greatest strengths.

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

Not believing I was loved. For years, I never thought of others loving me as me. I never told people when my birthday was. I ignored the day that was meant to celebrate me because I didn’t want to see how many people did not care. Flash forward to now with the continuous healing and I have learned how much I am loved. I learned about the ones that will always have my back. The ones that I can count on. I will say it might not always be the ones you expect, but they are out there. You are loved!

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

First, I want to say we all have a part in this, making an impact on the world. For me, specifically, I am a stress management coach because stress is something we all encounter every day. I truly believe we need to work on ourselves every day. As women, we spend our time focused on everyone else BUT ourselves. I believe and teach that we need to work on ourselves every day because when we start to focus on ourselves, we create awareness of ourselves. We learn about ourselves- who we are, what we want and need in our life. When we learn this about ourselves, we are then able to create boundaries, set priorities, and communicate.

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

1. SELF-AWARENESS: The awareness to know that what works for me may not work for you. For example, I LOVE to read. Reading is one of the best ways for me to regroup and relax. You may hate the smell of book stores and paperback books, and I want to breathe them in. My best friend loves those “color by numbers” and can spend hours working on one to relax. Me, just thinking about them makes me stressed.
2. PATIENCE: This is not my clients’ favorite word, but it is an important one. We know it takes time to get abs, to feel better after the flu, to get a degree, or to train for a marathon. For some reason, we have this mindset that our self-love journey should be quick. We forget that these habits and reactions we have created started years ago and it takes time to create new, healthy habits.
3. JOURNAL: My favorite habit I try to encourage and ask my clients to attempt is journaling. I feel this one gets a bad reputation because we think “Dear Diary…” and have to spill our deepest fears and emotions. I feel this habit is an easy one ANYONE can do. You do not need a quiet place, practice, or balance. You just need some kind of writing utensil and nowadays you can even use your phone. Journaling, or what I call “brain dumping”, is just time with you and only you.
4. YOU TIME: Make time for you every day. Yes, every day. I say between one-five minutes. I mean, think about this. There are literally twenty-four hours in a day. You are telling me we cannot “spare” one-five minutes a day just for ourselves? What kind of standard is that setting? What kind of respect does that show for ourselves.
5. TRY SOMETHING NEW: Maybe this isn’t exactly every day, but it should be a goal. This could be as simple as taking a new route home or to the grocery store. Or literally trying something out of your comfort zone such as snowboarding, jet-skiing, taking a hike, or trying a new recipe. Again, this does not have to be every day, but don’t let your normal routine stop you from experiencing something new. I want you to think about what would come out of trying something new. I’ll tell you about the first and maybe the last time I went snowboarding. Last year, I decided I was going to go snowboarding. Let me start off by telling you that I hate the cold, and never participated in a sport in my life. The day was cold, and there were countless falls, but you know what? I learned that I actually wasn’t horrible as a snowboarder. I had fun and made some good memories. I gained confidence that I could do something I had never done before.

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

Oh, WOW! I love this question! So many ideas are flashing in my mind right now. The first is a self-love movement. I am thinking in the sense of others sharing their story, but with support. As I say this out loud, I am picturing a physical wall where someone posts their story, and bystanders can post a sticky note on the same wall, but with words of encouragement and support only. My mindset is it will get others’ stories out. It will be a place for people to see the real, but also a place to share the good. We are surrounded by negative stories. Let’s shine a light on the real, but find the good in the world.

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

1. It sounds cliché, but the first thing that comes to mind is- “Do not give up.” Not looking back and having regrets kind of way, but I know there were times growing my business and working on myself when giving up would have been the easy answer. The real truth is sometimes I took that. I took the path of least resistance; the thought of failing was scarier.
2. Kind of repeating myself but- “Know that you are loved.” If I had this mindset to love myself and know who loved me before I started, I feel I could have taken some bigger chances and accomplished some big goals early on.
3. I was told this. I just wished it sank in- “They can’t take your education away.” Meaning, you can lose people in your life, you can lose a car, house, etc but they cannot take your education away. The way I look at this now is by telling myself to keep learning. This means keep reading and keep asking questions. Education cannot be taken away. The growth you get from education cannot be taken away.
4. “Nothing is stopping you but you.” As much as I believe in education, we can learn from experience as well. Sometimes, we focus on the next certification, the next degree, and we forget how much we can actually learn when we just go for it and try it.
5. Another cliché, but keep going. There are so many days where you want to throw in the towel. Say “insert curse word’ this and just take the easy way. For me the easy would have been not going to school, staying in the restaurant industry, blaming others for how my life is, and not taking responsibility for what I want and DESERVE in life. It can be easy to give up, but think about everything that can happen if you keep going.

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

I agree all of these topics are important. I would say mental health speaks the most to my heart. I feel we need to one create more awareness around it, but really educate ourselves on it. Some of us misdiagnosed ourselves or others. I feel the first step to this is just talking to someone, if you have any doubts or questions in your mind, reach out to an expert. Find one that makes you feel comfortable and pushes you just a little bit out of your comfort zone. Encourage others around you to talk to someone. Let’s start by normalizing talking to someone.

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

Some great ways to reach out is first by email if you want direct answers: [email protected]

I am also on all social media platforms, and you can find all my links here https://www.journeytoyourself.net/contact

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

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Women In Wellness: Jessica Harrington of Journey To Yourself on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Carla Ferreira of The Aurora Highlands On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Pick your battles, not everything is worth fighting for or over, compromise is great but also not always feasible, concessions must be given in certain cases. Accepting fault and moving forward is also really important. Sometimes I make a mistake and I need to clarify and move forward. Although I have different ideas and they are welcome most of the time, my mentor has often said let’s not reinvent the wheel every time. We must thoughtfully use things from the past that worked and interject new ideas around those systems.

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

As Director of Onsite Development and Principal, Carla Ferreira’s inspirational leadership style guides all aspects of The Aurora Highlands development. She handles coordination between the various consulting teams from design, engineering and construction to sales & marketing.

Carla maintains close relationships with the development’s building partners, public entities and various consulting teams. She is very involved in the local, state, and global community, sitting on community boards and acting philanthropically. Carla works with the homebuilders from Pulte Homes, Richmond American Homes, Bridgewater Homes, Century Communities, D.R. Horton, Tri Pointe Homes and Taylor Morrison on the vision she and her father created for the Aurora Highlands.

With her background in fine arts, she will be instrumental in leading the direction of the public art component of The Aurora Highlands. The development will feature artwork throughout its 12 neighborhood parks and will give this community unique personality.

Carla’s philanthropy efforts include volunteer work with Global Citizen Foundation, Christian Aid International and works with various adoption centers and kennels around Denver.

Carla has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from University of Nevada Las Vegas. Between the ages of 18–27, she focused her career on her love of art and fashion. After 10 years in the art and fashion industry, she found a way to merge her love of art and design with her passion for philanthropy, people and cultures into designing and building communities with her father, Carlo Ferreira. She formally joined our family business in 2017 with her successful father who was behind the various developments in Houston, TX, Las Vegas, NV and now Denver, CO. Carla loves living in Colorado where she takes her dog hiking during her leisure time.

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?

Out of college, I entered the arts and fashion industry. After 10 years, I found a way to merge my love of art and design with my passion for philanthropy, people and cultures into designing and building communities with my father and seasoned developer, Carlo Ferreira. I’m very close with my dad who raised me on his own and brought me up on his own and surrounded me with influential people. He has taught me everything about the industry.

My first job in the real estate development industry is with The Aurora Highlands. I was inspired to help my father achieve his vision of building a community that connects Denver International Airport to downtown Denver to the recreation of the mountains. We’re building a convenient, accessible and family-friendly master planned community in an underdeveloped part of the Denver metro area. The Aurora Highlands is part of the Aerotropolis Region, and will add 12,500 residential units, four new schools, 21 miles of trails, 20 neighborhood parks, recreational facilities, libraries, outdoor entertainment venues, shops and restaurants and approximately 170,000 jobs to the metro area upon completion.

As Director of Onsite Development and Principal, I guide all aspects of The Aurora Highlands development from design, engineering and construction to sales and marketing.

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

I look at the development of our community differently, looking at how we can use every square inch of land for the betterment of this community. Every piece of land has its challenges, The Aurora Highlands is no exception. For example, we have a large ditch running through the middle of our development. Most developers would build around it, thinking there’s nothing that can be done with that land. With my background in art, I saw the perfect place for a linear park and public art to run through the community. I’m taking what most deem unusable land and turning it into something beautiful. The 100-acre linear park, called Hogan Park at Highlands Creek, is now in its first phase of development and will be the highlight of The Aurora Highlands community.

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

I was learning to off road on the open dirt of The Aurora Highlands site and needed about 10 men to dig my car out of the situation I got myself in. I was crying in the car at my mistake and because I damaged my car, the men were laughing at my predicament. One man even said, “should I teach you how to drive?” That stung. But I have learned that I cannot change the way others act, I can only change my reaction and how I let things affect me. While it was extremely embarrassing, I learned a lesson, I now know that the dirt mounds for storm water mitigation are in fact less dirt and more like concrete.

Also, not knowing the meaning of acronyms has led to some embarrassing situations so I’ve learned that it’s ok (and very important) to ask questions.

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?

This industry is traditionally dominated by men, women represent only 10.9% of the construction industry but The Aurora Highlands is breaking that mold. I work with five women who hold leadership roles with our homebuilders. These women are Leslie Moen, Co-founder, Owner, and President at Bridgewater Homes; Linda Purdy, Colorado Division President at Tri Pointe Homes; Ricarda Dietsch, Mountain Region Area President for Taylor Morrison Homes; Liesel Cooper, National President of Century Communities; and Natasha Gandhi, Division President of Richmond Homes.

This many women working on a development in a major urban area is not common, we are proud of that but what I think is most impressive are the things we are teaching one another and supporting each other when in a male-dominated room.

The other big role model in my life is my dad, Carlo Ferreira. He has always treated me as an equal. He supported me and showed me that if I worked hard enough, I could do anything in the world that I wanted and there’s no hindrance to that based on gender.

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?

There is always a time and place to be disruptive. Even the systems and structures, that have withstood the test of time require updates and in residential development, that means having more women at the table. If I cannot lift something because it’s too heavy or it’s a more onerous task than I expected, I will look for help. Whether it’s a fulcrum, a crane or simply another individual, I’ll ask for help from others around me. Asking for help is not a weakness. Working well with others, being humble and collaborative is an asset to being a leader. I will disrupt when I see any injustice, I will stand taller and speak louder. I’m no longer intimidated when I’m told that I’m naïve because I’m a girl or the developer’s daughter. I allow my actions and the delivery of my diction to explain why I am here at the table in a male dominated industry, and why they should be listening to what I have to say. In turn, I will listen and respect the words from others.

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

I am still searching for advice daily as I continue to grow. There are many words of inspiration and motivation that have lead me to today. If I had to choose it would be don’t give up when it seems hard, pick your battles and know the role of every person on your team.

Don’t give up when it seems hard or impossible, there’s always a solution. Sometimes taking a break and having a reset can offer a fresh pair of eyes or fresh perspective. A simple example of this is when my team and I are looking to design an advertisement or marketing email, sometimes I will look at something too critically and need to take a break and come back to it, and it is always helpful to get another set of eyes, to call for help and get a second or third opinion.

Pick your battles, not everything is worth fighting for or over, compromise is great but also not always feasible, concessions must be given in certain cases. Accepting fault and moving forward is also really important. Sometimes I make a mistake and I need to clarify and move forward. Although I have different ideas and they are welcome most of the time, my mentor has often said let’s not reinvent the wheel every time. We must thoughtfully use things from the past that worked and interject new ideas around those systems.

Know what every person on your team does and understand their roles. I cannot ask someone to do something that I wouldn’t do myself, and in situations where it is a special skill set needed that surpasses my abilities, I still need to understand, research, and learn so that I am not blindsided or in the dark. For example, I have learned about contract laws, real property law, surface use agreements, mineral rights, engineering, and construction in more depth than I previously understood. While I am by no means a lawyer or an engineer or a project foreman, I have learned about their key roles and drill down on specifics when a problem arises, and in many cases, have learned proactively to prevent a problem.

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

In a few years, I will likely take over the business. Learning from my mentors and my father so that I can lead this project is key, I’m not sure I will ever feel truly ready, there’s always so much more to learn but I want to continue to empower women and make sure they have a voice and a seat at the table and my table is always open. On Wednesdays we wear pink but we aren’t mean girls.

I honestly am a big fan of the movie Legally Blonde. I love what it represents for women in the workplace or in an educational institution. The movie’s message is don’t hide your femininity. If you are a girly girl then be that. At the same time, it’s ok if a gender role does not feel right to you or you don’t fit in a box. Being oneself and expressing oneself in our appearances is important and while I may wear a black simple suit one day and construction boots the next, I will also show up in a pink suit or a pink hardhat and not be ashamed to look like a woman.

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

As a female executive in residential development, I’ve found that not everyone in this male-dominated industry is open to seeing a woman in the boardroom. Men usually aren’t scrutinized for their professional appearance… clothes, hair or makeup. Sometimes women will apologize for taking up space in a room. Sometimes we apologize for interjecting where a man in the same position would just assert and assume. But slowly we are working to combat these stigmas and behaviors. I think sometimes as women we may be more afraid of failure because we worked so hard to get where we are and a stumble will keep us from continuing our climb up the career ladder. Caution sometimes can be a downside for women. We need to be less fearful of failing and more confident in our abilities and know that one misstep doesn’t mean failure or set-back. There shouldn’t be a double standard that I need to uphold to be here. Being a disrupter means bringing other women into our field and carving out our place. It means not apologizing for having an idea. To be blunt, it means that I shouldn’t be afraid of being judged by those who aren’t used to answering to a woman, who think that I am too bossy or bitchy, when I am being clear and stern with my position and direction. It means that we see each other as equals.

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

I read a lot of sci-fi novels and feminist novels. “The Beauty” by Aliya Whiteley is a great short novel about a world without women and how men adapt and what happens when nature tries to fix the problem. “Autonomous” is a novel by Annalee Newitz and is an amazing sci-fi book that questions big pharma, capitalism, technology, artificial intelligence and gender and what it means to be autonomous.

“An Unkindness of Ghosts” by Rivers Solomon one of my favorite books and is about classism, racism, gender, space, religion and the future. It’s very much about socio economic factors and how they can unjustly overrule society.

Finally, “Ancillary Series” by Ann Leckie is a must-read series if you like sci-fi about the subtle nature of how gender is meaningless and how humanity and colonialism and totalitarianism get intertwined in the wrong leader’s hands.

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 going to share something very personal. I was in an abusive relationship, I felt so small and weak and like I had forgotten who I was and lost the tenor of my own voice in my head. I felt brainwashed. After I got out of the relationship, I turned to journaling and wrote a very messy, 100-page book as a release that is full of essays and poems and feelings. That was a great catharsis for me. I found my voice again, I received calls from people I look up to and people who loved me and believed in me and finally found myself again.

It’s healthy to talk about what hurts us and what we have been through, it should be normal and accepted. Being able to relate to someone who went through something similar is so powerful because it helped me to not feel so alone or ashamed or weak. I felt brave for sharing, I felt proud of myself for being here. After my experience, I struggled with mental health and depression, but I felt better each time I opened up. Every time I felt like falling, I spoke to a strong woman who pulled me up and welcomed me to sit beside her and share her stories.

I would love to help other women whether it’s volunteering at a women’s shelter or someday creating a foundation to help women or just being here for someone who needs to share her story. I have a passion to help women in our society and to teach our sons and daughters love and respect one another.

I have a degree in Anthropology and one of the courses that I still vividly remember was “Violence Against Women”. Yes, that was a course. There are simply not enough history courses being told from the eyes of women. In that class, we saw marks from abuse left on the bones and remains of women. It evoked incredible conversations and had a big impact on me. I never thought I would find myself in a similar situation than those women we learned about from long ago. Violence against women still exists and we prefer to hide it. The ME-TOO movement is a disrupter, it’s shaking things up and I support it.

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

Yes! I have the following poem from Rupi Kaur in my office. It just sums up everything I feel.

I stand

On the sacrifices

Of a million women before me

Thinking

What can I do

To make this mountain taller

So the women after me

Can see farther

How can our readers follow you online?

My LinkedIn page is where I share many of my successes and accomplishments and keep in touch with industry trends and people. You can follow the work of my development at https://theaurorahighlands.com .

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

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Female Disruptors: Carla Ferreira of The Aurora Highlands 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: Saloa Aguirre of Boiess On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Not everyone is cut out to be a founder, nor should they be. Being a founder entails a level of risk tolerance, whether it is personal, financial and or a combination of both. The amount of risk and the management of those risks are factors to take into account when deciding to embark on the entrepreneurial path. Founders don’t stand on higher moral grounds or are smarter or better professionals. As I mentioned before, whichever the path chosen, entrepreneurship or working for 3rd parties, the real accomplishment is when they are executed in the best version of oneself.

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

Saloa Aguirre is the founder of Boiess colognes for children, babies and moms that are natural, plant-based, and infused with vitamins and prebiotics. The scemts are clean, fresh and gentle and provide a sense of nurturing while creating memories to last a lifetime.

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?

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to introduce our brand, Boiess Colognes and myself. https://www.boiess.com/ In order to understand our vision, I should probably talk a little bit about my upbringing. I grew up in a coastal village of Europe (Spain), where the concept of farm to table was the norm before it became a thing. Where I had to search what exactly GMO meant since the natural form was more accessible than the modified one and where traditions in certain cosmetic formulations (and cooking recipes) were passed through family members for generations. When it came to fragrances, aromas where an intrinsic part of our upbringing, it just transported us to different places, whether it was the fruit trees at my grandparents’ house, orange blossoms, lemons, gardenias or bougainvillea during the school holiday trips or simply the freshness of the sea. All those scents are still with me and bring back emotions. Our nose is like a time machine, through scents we can go back in time or travel to visited places. When I became a mom in 2017, I wanted to ensure I could gift those same memories, that journey to my son. Our goal at Boiess Colognes is to craft clean and natural fragrances you can trust, that can provide a journey of loving, nurturing and belonging in every family.

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

Being an entrepreneur is a roller coaster of emotions and interesting stories, never dull, that’s why I always say, I’m glad I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Probably this is more of a learning curve than interesting, but when I started maturing the idea of bringing Boiess Colognes to life, I had developed in my mind an array of scents that I wanted to have in my collections. I was working with leading labs in the industry, surely we could develop a formula that was qualitatively strong and achieve a scent profile that I had in mind, right? Wrong…First lesson learned, it’s never easy and things will not go as planned. As we worked on the notes of the fragrances and explored natural, plant based, clean & sustainable elements, I quickly realized how many things and scents I love that are simply impossible to achieve with natural elements. It certainly opened up a debate about our identity, what kind of fragrances we wanted to craft and what kind of products we were going to be able to achieve. As we grow and bring different scents and collections to the market it will continue to be a challenge, but our commitment to using plant based and craft natural products will be our compass.

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?

Before I founded Boiess Colognes while working in the financial sector, one of my largest clients sent me an invite for a networking evening with the performance of the “Rolling Stones”. I remember thinking at the time that it seemed a bit odd to choose such a big name for a network event but given the size of the entity, I thought maybe they had the budget for it. Of course when you go watch the Stones perform live you park your corporate attire and rocking some leather is almost mandatory. Needless to say my jaw dropped when I arrived, excited with the thought of the evening I was heading into, when I was very quick to realize my grave mistake, not only was I under dressed (overexcited), but everyone around me had coiffed up dos, gala gowns and bow ties. I didn’t need to ask further what was happening, we were clearly not watching a rock band but the client’s in house classic orchestra, which happened to take a catchy name, who in their right mind would confuse a classic orchestra with a worldly rock band?… It took some champagne and a lot of humor to get through the evening. It did teach me however an important lesson, never assume, do your research. You will still find yourself in unforeseen situations but with good preparation and ground work, they will be minimized and mostly avoided.

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?

There are so many people, jobs, colleagues friends and family along the way that have imprinted their mark that it would be quite unfair to single one out. I will however give a big Thank You to the clients that worked with me over the years, their loyalty, their assistance, their belief in my abilities, even beyond my own beliefs, for allowing to dream higher, be better and be bold. They kept me going, made me resilient and made me truly believe the sky is the limit. It would also be unfair if I wasn’t grateful to my supportive husband, who after so many years still shows pride in me and who when in doubt, gave me reason and pushed me to continue. The professional journey is a marathon, not a sprint and many people run by your side making it much more special.

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 wish those numbers were accurate. The 20% mentioned represent companies where at least one woman is a co-founder, most of them being a combination of male and female founders. I believe the figure of only women-founded companies stands at something like 3% and this is where we see a staggering low figure and a lot of work still to be done.

Just to name some attributes, women are strong, resilient, hardworking, loyal, efficient and diligent, same as many men, so why aren’t the figures of women led/founded companies higher? I think history plays some part of it, throughout the years, but for some exceptions, we have seen and been taught leadership by men, inspiring other young men to aspire, have dreams and achieve them. They had reference points, role models and a path to get there. It’s only recent history that has started to show a higher number of prominent female figures that are breaking glass ceilings, walking uncharted territories in boards, leadership positions etc. Every year we see more of these figures, but still there needs to be more. We need to show next generations that is possible to have a family, a work life balance, a career, dream and aim high, without giving up dreams, being burnt out or giving ourselves up in the process. (Of course I am not even touching upon certain parts of the world that are still today lacking basic equality and human rights for women).Movements like women supporting women, dedicated female founded VCs are accelerating and increasing visibility of the path young women can follow, give them tools to advance their fears and give them hope and they will truly start believing it’s possible. Butterflies have wings, they only need to open them and fly, women have courage, they only need to be shown a path and they will follow it.

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

I think it all starts with education. Strong messages from early childhood that everyone can be the best version of themselves, whatever that may be. Strong values, strong role models hopefully will shape better characters. In order to achieve this we probably need more focus on our educational system, provide teachers with tools, support them and keep revisiting and improving our models.

I’d like to hopefully soon stop reading about a female reaching a leadership position and simply read the name of the most suitable candidate that has succeeded. That would mean that female and male parity in leadership roles is a fact and we are not focusing on gender.

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

I’d like to see more women pursuing their ideas, showing new perspectives, new initiatives, new thought processes that only diversity can provide. Being a founder requires a lot of work. It’s a learning curve, but no matter the hours, the obstacles, despite the stress, the rewards are far greater.

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

I heard a lot of advice around believing in your product, your idea, yourself. Defend it no matter what and if you fail once get up and continue pursuing your dream. In my opinion, better advice I would give to entrepreneurs is to be able to pivot, to listen to the market, adjust to changes. We are living in an ever changing environment. Understanding your audience, adjusting for changes and asking for help is not at odds with having conviction in yourself or the product. No matter how much research you do, you will always encounter surprises. Another myth is that being a founder is a lonely process. On the contrary, the founder/entrepreneur ecosystem is very robust, large and helpful, it’s a collective journey. People are genuinely out there to assist, they share your struggles and pains and there is a common empathy among the community, which is another of the highlights of joining the founders’ community.

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?

Absolutely not, not everyone is cut out to be a founder, nor should they be. Being a founder entails a level of risk tolerance, whether it is personal, financial and or a combination of both. The amount of risk and the management of those risks are factors to take into account when deciding to embark on the entrepreneurial path. Founders don’t stand on higher moral grounds or are smarter or better professionals. As I mentioned before, whichever the path chosen, entrepreneurship or working for 3rd parties, the real accomplishment is when they are executed in the best version of oneself.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

I received a lot of advice before launching Boiess Colognes. Like most founders, some I followed, others I wish I had but here are my 2 cents of what I consider to be some of the early hurdles as you take the entrepreneurial path.

1) Have a solid financial plan. It will always be more expensive that you expect.

2) Be prepared for the unknown. No matter how prepared or knowledgeable you are, surprises and unforeseen events will be part of your journey.

3) Having doubts is normal. It means that you are listening, evaluating, aware of the challenges and are working towards solving them.

4) This path is a marathon, not a sprint. There are no shortcuts.

5) Be afraid, but be brave. It’s all worth it.

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

I wish I could say I’m making the world a better place. I would consider myself successful if my son grows up to be a good human being, empathetic, kind and noble. From a professional perspective, all I can say is that like Frank Sinatra I’m doing it my way…

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.

I think we are all united on calling for peace in these very tumultuous times, but if I had to start a movement it would probably be a “Smiling” one. Smiling not only creates positive reactions in one’s mood but also sets into motion a contagious chain reaction of smiles that would make the world a kinder place.

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

I’d love to sit down and have lunch with Jessica Alba, exchange some notes and learn about her long journey from founding the Honest company to taking it public. I admire what she has built and her story.

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

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

Modern Fashion: Marissa Tilley of Lady Black Tie On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today

An Interview With Candice Georgiadice

Don’t be intimidated by the bigger players. The first thing to know about selling fashion, and the thing I love about it — it’s not a winners-take-all market. All the big time fashion websites can’t have every idea and design. As a small brand you can absolutely make it and scale incredibly fast.

Many in the fashion industry have been making huge pivots in their business models. Many have turned away from the fast fashion trend. Many have been focusing on fashion that also makes a social impact. Many have turned to sustainable and ethical sourcing. Many have turned to hi tech manufacturing. Many have turned to subscription models. What are the other trends that we will see in the fashion industry? What does it take to lead a successful fashion brand today?

In our series called, “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today” we are talking to successful leaders of fashion brands who can talk about the Future of Fashion and the 5 things it takes to lead a successful fashion brand in our “new normal.”

As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Marissa Tilley.

Marissa Tilley is both a dress designer and an e-commerce brand owner of Lady Black Tie, one of the fastest-growing formalwear retailers. Starting from humble beginnings as a small retail store in 2018, Lady Black Tie now ships thousands of gowns a month all over the world.

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 childhood “backstory”?

I was in the right place at the right time; I got invited to walk the runway in New York Fashion Week Fall 2008 for Couture evening gown designers. I walked in 9 different shows my first season and wore the most glamorous formal gowns. I continued to come back to NYFW almost every season through my 20’s — always walking in stunning couture gowns. This experience left me with a romanticized impression of the formal wear niche. Almost 10 years after my very first runway show in September 2008 and a nagging desire to ditch the 9–5 corporate world, I went all in and opened the business in 2018.

Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?

I worked some jobs in my 20’s that I thought I’d like; however, I found myself pretty disengaged. I would look at the clock waiting for it to say 5 pm. I started questioning my workday and taking some ‘self-inventory’; is this how I want to be spending my days? I daydreamed of escaping and doing something fun throughout the day.

I started working on the business plan for Lady Black Tie a year before we opened. Running a business truly becomes a lifestyle, and if you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work at all. I now have the opposite problem with looking at the clock — I get so engaged with what I’m working on that I don’t realize how many hours have passed until my husband reminds me how late it is. This was the ‘Aha’ moment when you know you’re in the right place.

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

I think COVID was a pretty big plot twist. It taught me in real time that there are no guarantees. If you told me in February 2020 that every prom and major gathering would be canceled in April I wouldn’t have believed it. Thankfully our overhead was low because the business was still so new, and I always operated 100% debt free, so we were able to make it through pretty unscathed and quickly pivot to selling elopement dresses for a time being!

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

I suppose you have to have a higher tolerance for risk to go out and start a business.

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

We design and manufacture a lot of the dresses ourselves! I spend countless hours researching designs, making samples, and testing new styles. We’re building up our own line which helps us stand out from other formalwear businesses who are typically buying inventory from the same places.

Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Adapt your game according to your results” You can only plan for so much, the rest you have to work with the cards you’ve been dealt. In our first 3 years in business we’ve dealt with COVID, major supply chain issues, outgrowing our warehouse too quick, etc…. Somehow we just make it work and adapt to each challenge.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?

I like seeing more American manufacturing come back! This reduces shipping costs and lead times.

Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?

I always say with formalwear, I chose a career path that focuses on the ‘lighter side of life’. Many of our customers get very excited when it comes to picking out what they will wear for a special moment or occasion in their lives! I love being a little part in helping women find something they feel confident wearing.

Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?

We work with factories that are Fair Trade and compensate their employees with a living wage. One of our manufacturers is 100% American made and we proudly display this on each product listing!

Fast fashion has an advantage, that it is affordable for most people, but it also has the drawback that it does not last very long and is therefore not very sustainable. What are your thoughts about this? How does your company address this question?

We don’t sell fast fashion so we can’t really comment.

Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.

​​1. Don’t be intimidated by the bigger players. The first thing to know about selling fashion, and the thing I love about it — it’s not a winners-take-all market. All the big time fashion websites can’t have every idea and design. As a small brand you can absolutely make it and scale incredibly fast.

2. Know your niche well and create brand identity. We sell formalwear. Our website is just dresses and that is all we focus on. I don’t venture into activewear or ready-to-wear. Even during COVID when everyone was getting heavily into loungewear, we stayed in our lane. The only segments of formalwear selling through COVID lockdowns were elopement dresses, ‘minimony’ and engagement photo dresses, but we stayed true to our brand identity and didn’t deviate.

3. If you are designing and manufacturing, study your market. I have 3 instagrams. 1 is my personal, 2 is the business, and the 3rd is my ‘market research’ where I am following hundreds of dress brands and dress stores. I scroll it at least once a day like you would read a newspaper. I’m following to keep an eye on what’s trending and to keep a pulse on the market.

4. Content is king in the age of the internet. Clicks, views and engagement are the currency of the realm, and the surest way to establish yourself. My #1 expense is inventory and my #2 expenses are advertising and creating content!

5. Have Fun. All of the work you put into your fashion brand is ultimately pointless if you’re stressed out about it.. If I find myself ‘lost in the weeds’ or wrapped up in dealing with a difficult customer, I often step back and remind myself “Marissa, it’s just dresses… you’re just selling dresses here….” It’s alright to have fun on the job so long as the work is getting done; and not every day is going to be easy, but remember why you started — because you love what you do!

Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?

Less fast fashion, more clothing built to last.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

They can check out www.ladyblacktie.com!

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

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Modern Fashion: Marissa Tilley of Lady Black Tie On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Do you see yourself repeating patterns of behaviour? A period of self-reflection can help to spot the signs so that you can take steps not to repeat historic traits. As a child, Peter was often told by his parents to be strong and not to show emotion. He carried that mantra with him into adulthood and it often meant that he came across to prospective partners as cold and uncaring. It is important to reflect on our values and behaviours and question whether what we were told as children is still serving us well today. If it isn’t then it is time to rewrite the script.

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

Chris runs a successful private mental health practice called Talking Works. He uses psychotherapy, counseling and coaching to help move adults out of crisis and into a better place. Chris also works with teenagers in schools and gives them some great life skills.

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

My story is somewhat unconventional. For many years I had a career in the nightclub and hospitality industry. I started to pick up some unhealthy habits that were not serving me well. I wouldn’t say I had a mid-life crisis, but I recognized it was time to revisit how I was spending my time. I decided to invest in my self-development and discovered the benefits of therapy around that time. I started to learn about NLP and then psychotherapy. I now offer adults psychotherapy and counseling and visit schools two days a week to offer teenagers life skills. It brings a huge sense of fulfillment, and I now enjoy every single hour of every single day.

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

Some of my most interesting moments were during my visit to California to study NLP. It was a chance to connect with people and the environment. I studied in the hills above Santa Cruz, on the University of California campus. I got to learn from some of the founders of NLP, but I also enjoyed the giant redwood trees, the wildlife, and some extra ordinary people from around the world. I think this was how my career in the helping profession was born. It re-enlivened something in me that had lain dormant for many years.

Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?

My usual life program is one of never feeling good enough. I remember one day, after about 50 hours of experience, this typical program was strangely missing and I felt self-assured. I was telling my own therapist how excited I was about my work, and about how I felt I had really got into my stride. I was recounting how I thought I had truly got to the top of the mountain. She gave me a funny look, one of a little confusion, which I didn’t understand. I remember that just a few days later, I started having real issues with one of my clients who was suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder. I actually felt that the client’s case was beyond my capability. I remember speaking with my therapist about how silly I felt and how arrogant I must have sounded. Now, whilst I take confidence in my experience, I look up at the mountain still to climb. There is always more to learn.

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?

What I guess I didn’t realize is just how much a clinical supervisor also looks after the interests of the therapist. I am so grateful to my clinical supervisor, Anita. She has helped me assist some challenging clients and has offered me help and inspiration with their cases. She has helped expose my own processes in the therapy room, always in a helpful way but often exposing uncomfortable issues. I couldn’t have done it without her — she is amazing.

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

As psychotherapists, we would often suggest to clients that they employ a high degree of self-care. We should do the same. Don’t schedule lots of clients one after the next. Take breaks in-between sessions. Make sure you take time out for yourself. Schedule time in your day for exercise and to switch off from technology and social media. Reach out to friends, connect with family, and enjoy a good conversation or have a laugh.

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

Place mental health at the forefront of your organizations agenda. Ensure wellbeing conversations become commonplace. Make sure your staff are not only OK, but really OK. Ensure staff take the breaks they are entitled to and make sure they take holidays. Don’t overload your team with work. Happy staff are more productive staff.

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

Can you please share a story or example for each.

1. For every negative thought we have, or view we express, there is a more positive way of reframing them. Learn to look for the positive in every situation. A father was struggling to put his children to bed at night. Each evening turned into a nightmare scenario. The father became increasingly frustrated with the children and started to shout at them. He dreaded each evening. After talking things over with me, he was able to reframe his thinking so that he saw bedtime as a time when he could nurture his children and show them affection. Instead of seeing their bedtime routine as a struggle, he started to think about it as a special time when they could spend time together. This helped him approach bedtime with a much calmer attitude, which helped the children relish the opportunity to go to bed rather than arguing to stay up.
2. Do you see yourself repeating patterns of behaviour? A period of self-reflection can help to spot the signs so that you can take steps not to repeat historic traits. As a child, Peter was often told by his parents to be strong and not to show emotion. He carried that mantra with him into adulthood and it often meant that he came across to prospective partners as cold and uncaring. It is important to reflect on our values and behaviours and question whether what we were told as children is still serving us well today. If it isn’t then it is time to rewrite the script.
3. If we tune into what our body is telling us, we can spot ways to counter feelings of high alert or anxiety. We must learn to listen to our gut and our heart as well as our head. Sometimes when we feel anxious, we get pains in our chest, stomach, or experience a general feeling of unease. The gut can be a reliable indicator of how we are feeling mentally. The gut alone is powerful, but when we add gut feeling to our logical and rational mind, we get the best answers.
   Often, we worry about things that are beyond our control. This has become particularly prevalent during the pandemic and during world events such as the Ukrainian crisis. This is the first thing to address. If we cannot control the outcome, there is no point worrying about it. Thinking about what might happen is not helpful. We need to concentrate on what is in our gift to control and focus on the positive.
4. Making sure we have a fit and healthy body is a huge part of our mental wellbeing. Taking exercise and eating well will contribute to our clarity of thinking and the way we feel. I love to walk. I like nothing better than going out for a 10-mile walk in nature around my local area. Sometimes I take my camera, and other times I write about the walk and share it with others. However, I am as fallible as the next person and if I get busy at work, exercise is often the first thing that drops to the bottom of my list of priorities. I then start to feel more stressed and lethargic. I know that if I plan exercise into my day, I am more alert, fitter, happier and able to give more to my clients.
5. Talking to a friend, a colleague, a family member or a professional, is the best way of addressing our feelings and concerns. Talk to someone who will listen without judgment. My professional life is all about extolling the virtues of talking and it is something I believe passionately. Talking to my partner, friends, and mentors is vitally important to my mental wellness. Whilst I would encourage anyone who is suffering to seek professional help, I never underestimate the power of talking to a friend. We all need to share what is going on in our heads. Bottling things up only leads to more unhappiness.

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

I work with teenagers a lot. One common theme is that relationships with parents could be better. Parents and kids would do well to put down their phones and pre-occupations and concentrate on their relationship. Foster a relationship of honesty, love and support. From that place, mental health concerns can be minimised.

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

I found the book “Quiet” by Susan Cain really useful and validating. Susan explains the power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking. It helped me understand my own introversion and really validated me as a person. She speaks of the power of listening, something which I use every day in my work.

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

I would encourage connection. Minimize screen use. Use social media with common sense. Allocate time to enjoy the company of fellow human beings, in person. Get closer to nature. Slow down. Consider this question : “what is the smallest thing you can do, to make the biggest difference.” Don’t just exist, live!

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

“Feel the fear and do it anyway” — whilst I found the book a little bit abstract, the key message is very valid. We instinctively find things frightening when out of our comfort zone as human beings. Often our comfort zone has been programmed by our experience. Sometimes this is set at the wrong level. Take some calculated risks — you might just enjoy it!

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

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

https://www.facebook.com/talkingworksUK

https://twitter.com/talkingworksUK

https://www.instagram.com/talkingworksUK/

My Website is at www.talkingworks.uk

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

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Chris Colcomb of Talking Works: 5 Things Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Profile — When people click on your name to see your LinkedIn profile, it is KEY to make a good impression and keep them interested in what you have accomplished and how you can help them. A correctly designed profile can make a BIG difference.

As part of my series of interviews about “How to Use LinkedIn To Dramatically Improve Your Business”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Potorti.

Michael is Founder of Aurelius Resources and created a LinkedIn based methodology called Lightning Leads (https://linkedinlightning.com) which is a non-advertisement, non-salesy approach to put clients in a One-on-One conversation with their Prospects in order to build Organic relationships and close more business.

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

I realized that LinkedIn is a great way to meet other business owners and have conversations. One of the complaints I kept hearing was that ad spend was too expensive and companies wanted an alternative so that they could generate quality leads. I developed a methodology for myself to grow leads organically and it worked very well. In fact, one of my LinkedIn Groups called Best Lead Generation Strategies has grown from 0 to approximately 4,000 members within a 12 month period.

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

The most interesting story was a result of inviting an individual to my LinkedIn group and our conversations in DMs led to introductions between clients having similar interests. This led to a multi-million $ transaction which generated $ thousands in commissions.

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?

A funny mistake (I didn’t think so at the time:) was when I was conducting a hosted webinar for a client and forgot to hit the Record button! We record our clients’ webinars so they can use as content for posts and send to individuals who could not attend. Thank goodness one of my colleagues recorded it as a backup.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

I find LinkedIn as the most effective for our clients. One of our clients started a group on LinkedIn several years ago but had minimal membership growth. After we implemented our Lightning Leads strategy, we more than doubled members in a few months and increased DM activity significantly. This led to several sales that would not have occurred without our efforts.

Let’s talk about LinkedIn specifically, now. Can you share 5 ways to leverage LinkedIn to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

My clients and I have used LinkedIn successfully to start conversations with decision makers who make sales happen.

Here are 5 effective ways incorporated into our LinkedIn based Lightning Leads Program:

1. Profile — When people click on your name to see your LinkedIn profile, it is KEY to make a good impression and keep them interested in what you have accomplished and how you can help them. A correctly designed profile can make a BIG difference.
2. Groups — A lot of people are unaware of LinkedIn Groups that can be created and the power they have on generating Leads and sales. These groups are the “arena” where you can get to know your target audience better.
3. DM’s — Direct Messaging (DM’s) is a great way to start conversations with your target customer with the ultimate goal of getting them on a call to bring them on as an ACTUAL customer. Once they accept the invite to your group, you started a one-on-one conversation and your sales staff can work their magic from there.
4. Webinar / Training — Webinars / Training sessions are a great way to provide free information to those who are interested and capture lead data at the same time. LinkedIn is a great source to convert your target audience to attendees where you can provide value and connect further.
5. CRM — Your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tool is critical to nurturing potential clients and ultimately getting the sale. LinkedIn profiles usually have target client emails, websites and sometimes phone numbers which make communication and follow up easier.

Because of the position that you are in, 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 usually hold free virtual training sessions for anyone who has a business and is looking for an alternative to paid advertisement to generate leads. I feel that clients need to be nurtured and relationships should grow organically rather than a “spray and pray” method that comes from advertising. This is why I put together my Lightning Leads package and offer “hybrid” or “done for you” services to tap into the power of LinkedIn.

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 🙂

Wow there are so many! Elon Musk, Warren Buffett and any of the Shark Tank crew would be awesome if you can arrange it! These individuals have made a HUGE impact on my and countless others’ lives through conveying their wisdom and helping humanity.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!

Thank you for having me here! If I can help anyone further please visit https://linkedinlightning.com/ and let’s connect.

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Michael Potorti of Aurelius Resources: How to Use LinkedIn To Dramatically Improve Your Business was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Inspirational Women Leaders Of Tech: Anamarie Huerta Franc of SAP Labs On The Five Things You Need To Know In Order To Create A Very Successful Tech Company

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

You can be a leader at any time. I learned this as an individual contributor when I joined a team and developed new market positioning for our product portfolio. My plan required other people and teams to execute. Without any formal authority, I went to each team, pitched my idea, and discussed how it would benefit them. I took on a lot of the work to begin the plan’s execution and before I knew it, teams were coming to help me and also wanted to contribute. By earning their respect, and demonstrating that I was creating something that would benefit everyone, people naturally looked to me as a leader.

As a part of my series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Anamarie Huerta Franc.

Anamarie Huerta Franc is managing director of SAP Labs in the U.S., responsible for leading cross-company collaboration, location strategy, communications and employee engagement for development employees across the country.

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

After graduating college with a degree in humanities, it took me a few years to find my way into enterprise technology. I initially worked in industrial distribution during the dot com bubble. I got quite a bit of experience in understanding supply chains and project management in that role. I enjoyed being on the front lines but was also drawn into the rapid growth and innovation of Internet-based businesses and products in Silicon Valley. I joined the database company Oracle in a product management role for their first Internet procurement product and knew I had found the right Industry for me. My work in enterprise technology showed me the impact that technology can have in creating solutions for the world’s largest companies. While I didn’t have a technology background, I had a thirst for knowledge and a passion for the business. I saw the power that came from bringing together business strategists with an understanding of the “real world” use cases, and technologists, and I was hooked.

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

I first joined SAP after business school in the corporate strategy group. I was excited to work on management consulting projects and help shape the future of the company, which is one of the largest software companies in the world. To my surprise, I was asked to lead a project that would determine how to establish and integrate design thinking into SAP. At the time, design thinking was not as prominent as it is today, and my role was more operational in nature than I had hoped. I questioned my decision to take the role when I saw my business school classmates with high profile jobs jetting around the world meeting with CEOs and advising on corporate strategy, while I was writing job descriptions and scheduling interviews to build a new design thinking team. But I told myself I would embrace it, for the time being, learn everything I could, and see where it would take me. And that’s exactly what I did. I earned a reputation for being able to take something completely unknown and drive it forward. I also built strong relationships with some of the smartest and most forward-thinking people at SAP and in my career. It turns out, I was at the forefront of a movement in the technology industry that has had an influence on everything I have done in my career since then. Years later, it all came full circle when I returned to SAP to work with the Chief Design Officer, whom I had helped hire to that design thinking team years before.

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

What first excited me about enterprise technology is the immense impact it has on the world and society. SAP customers generate nearly 90 percent of total global commerce and 99 out of the 100 largest companies in the world are SAP customers. So when you think about it, when you are making an impact at SAP, you are making an impact on nearly 90 percent of the total global commerce, and that’s an incredible feeling. I wake up excited every day to work with my colleagues worldwide and learn from each other.

SAP is truly a global company with a range of people from diverse cultures and with unique skill sets. I have had the opportunity and privilege to work across so many different geographies and cultures. Within SAP, this diversity is recognized as a critical element of our company’s success and empathy is a core competency to this success — we have to walk in others shoes to come to common ground.

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

At SAP our purpose is to help the world run better and improve people’s lives. And that is not just about technology but also about how we give back to our communities. We have an amazing Corporate Social Responsibility program at SAP with financial as well as active volunteer efforts across a number of initiatives. In North America alone, our efforts as an organization to build digital skills and inclusion impacted over one million lives last year, and we spent almost 28,000 hours volunteering our time. Recently we announced a scholarship program in partnership with the University of the People to support education for refugees and displaced youth. And we will soon make additional announcements, particularly in support of women in technology.

Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Are you currently satisfied with the status quo regarding women in STEM? What specific changes do you think are needed to change the status quo?

Throughout my career, we have made a lot of progress, but there is still much work that needs to be done, and we have a long way to go. There are two ends to the spectrum on which we need to focus. First, it is imperative that we encourage young girls at an early age to explore, study and excel at STEM and technology subjects and curriculum. SAP partners with some incredible organizations that support these initiatives, including Ignite Worldwide, TechBridge Girls, and The unCommission project to name a few. It is also important that we have more women in STEM leadership roles. Early in their careers, women must be able to see a path to leadership and growth. This will not only keep more women in STEM-focused careers, but it will also provide motivation for more women to pursue these roles as they will be inspired and realize that there are clear and realistic opportunities for them. I’m proud to be an executive sponsor for SAP’s Business Women’s Network (BWN), our largest and longest running employee resource group. Among many fantastic programs, BWN organizes is the annual Women in Data Science (WiDS) Silicon Valley event that brings together leaders within SAP and outside our organization to build community and learning on the ever evolving landscape of data science and to showcase women in the field across all technology functions from engineering to sales and marketing.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women in STEM or Tech that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts? What would you suggest to address this?

As I mentioned, it is important to have women not just pursuing careers in STEM and technology, but also in leadership roles to give the next generation of workers something with which to aspire and also help pull up other women. Unfortunately, there are simply not enough women in leadership positions in our industry, which creates a lack of representation and mentorship. It can also create unconscious bias when recruiting and hiring.

To combat this, there are a few basic things we should do. We should conduct blind skills assessments for every job candidate to make sure we are not evaluating people with conscious or unconscious biases. At SAP, we do this across the company. I’ll use our SAP Next Talent program, an early talent rotational program created for designers, developers, and data scientists, as an example. With no quotas or targeted hiring goals, we have hired almost 50% female cohorts based solely on experience and expertise.

We also need to get more women, myself included, talking about their experience in STEM and technology and the different paths they have taken. Early in my career, I thought that only developers could get involved in technology with two distinct parts of a company in either developer or business roles that functioned separately from one another. There was almost a mysticism applied to the profession, but I have learned that this is simply not the case. I, for one, have proven that you do not need to have an engineering or computer science background to be a leader at a global technology company.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a woman in STEM or Tech. Can you explain what you mean?

The primary myth that needs to be busted is that you need to have a computer science or engineering degree to work in technology full stop, let alone to be a woman in technology. This is just wrong. I know many women who started their careers on the business side and are now very successful in technology. In fact, that business perspective often grounds the reality of the incredible engineering developments and concepts to actually bring successful products to market. From my early work in design thinking, I learned that it is about identifying the problem and then bringing a diversity of perspectives, including feasibility, desirability, and viability, in order to solve it with delightful, usable, and useful solutions. I see examples of this across the entire company, not just in development or engineering roles. Diversity of perspectives is an asset for any technology company and should be embraced and encouraged.

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

1. You can be a leader at any time. I learned this as an individual contributor when I joined a team and developed new market positioning for our product portfolio. My plan required other people and teams to execute. Without any formal authority, I went to each team, pitched my idea, and discussed how it would benefit them. I took on a lot of the work to begin the plan’s execution and before I knew it, teams were coming to help me and also wanted to contribute. By earning their respect, and demonstrating that I was creating something that would benefit everyone, people naturally looked to me as a leader.
2. Be your authentic self. I work for a German enterprise software company. I started in a role in the CEO’s office in which half the people were in Germany and half were in Palo Alto, California. I was the only woman and one of the most junior on the team. If you know me, you know that my personality is so Californian. There were times people told me to “tone it down,” “your personality doesn’t work with technical people,” and “German culture is less openly emotional.” Some of this feedback helped me grow and communicate better with my colleagues, executives, and stakeholders. But, I also know that my boisterous, openly passionate, and emotional personality is part of what makes me, well me. If I constantly tried to fit into someone else’s mold, I would have left behind some of my core strengths. As I have become more confident and more experienced, I have come to realize that it is precisely my boisterousness, emotion, and passion that has helped me to be successful.
3. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. When I first started managing a customer success team, we were faced with a large issue. I was just ramping up the team and the choice was for me to manage the issue or delegate it to one of my reps who was already overloaded with work. I took on the issue and managed it myself until it stabilized. New reps were onboarded during this time, and I had one of them shadow me so they would have a smooth transition when it came to taking over the account. By doing the work myself, it helped me better learn and grasp the details of my new position. I knew that I could not consistently take this hands-on approach and be successful as a leader, but the team appreciated that I rolled up my sleeves right out of the gate to tackle an important issue and also delegated and coached once we had ramped up the team. In turn, I also earned their respect.
4. Surround yourself with great people, different cultures, views, and skill sets. When I started in a global customer success role, I didn’t have the formal background, expertise, or experience running a large global team. What I did have was a team with a variety of backgrounds and skill sets who had great ideas. I realized my job was to set a vision and strategy with the team and then give them the freedom to execute. Without intending to do so, we built a team represented by a diverse range of genders, sexual orientations, nationalities, and more. Everyone had a voice and we succeeded by playing off of this diversity of ideas, experiences, and beliefs. As an example, I had one person that didn’t yet fit into any mold of a formal role on the team, but he was eager and willing. He volunteered to help better understand the dynamics in a market and build and lead a team in a location where we were having problems. He understood the culture in that region, understood the vision and priorities of what we needed, and so, without hesitation, I supported his pitch to move halfway around the world for six months to go tackle something big for the team. Not only did he help us turn around a problem situation, but he also grew and progressed in his own professional career. He did what I personally could not have done, which I embraced, giving him the freedom and guardrails based on his initiative.
5. Act with empathy and build relationships. My first job in technology was working on Oracle’s Internet procurement product. It was at a time when companies were just starting to look at business applications in a hosted environment. I was initially intimidated by the assignment, as I was surrounded by people who had been in technology for much longer than me and who had educational backgrounds in technology. I could have shied away, but I dove into the job. I asked a lot of questions, sought advice, and offered my help. I went to lunch with people to build the personal relationships and asked about their challenges at work and what I might be able to do to help them. I made sure to remember small important things for them, even if non-work related to show that I cared about them not just for work purposes but also as a human. This helped me quickly learn the position and build relationships with my co-workers and my managers. We began to see each other as more than just a diploma and resume. We learned each other’s strengths and became a team

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

This sounds like a cliche, but I truly believe in giving people opportunities even before they might be formally ready. There have been many times in my career when someone took a chance on me before I was ready, and I want to do the same for others. That said, while it’s important to give people opportunities, it’s also important to encourage people to take risks and to learn from their “failures.” Coaching is essential in these situations. Sometimes it’s taking those leaps of faith or learning from failure that really pushes people to think differently and outside the box, and, more often than not, I think it actually makes them a better leader.

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

I am not sure there is specific advice I would give to just female leaders. My advice is relevant for any leader. You need to hire great managers under you and delegate and trust them to run their teams. You must surround yourself with people who have different experiences, backgrounds, and ways of approaching work than you and then encourage them to raise and listen to those diverse approaches to help you make decisions. Don’t worry that you won’t know everything and have every answer. I’ll save you the time — I don’t, you don’t, no one does, and that’s ok. The larger the team, the more you won’t know. Embrace it. You must set clear goals, priorities, and two-to-three simple KPI’s. — then let your team run. Your job is to set the vision, clear hurdles and roadblocks, and coach as needed. Finally, you need to relentlessly prioritize your team’s activities and goals. The larger the team, the more complexity that can arise. Your job every day is to make sure your team is crystal clear on priorities.

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

I am extremely grateful for having an older brother in my life. He is six years older than me and growing up I always looked up to him. He was my protector; he would not even let me ride my bike down the street to the local 7–11 on my own. He also always challenged me to learn more and to raise the bar on my expectations and my goals. When he was studying for standardized tests in high school, he would sit with me and try to teach me about some of the subjects. Even though it was way beyond my comprehension, it kept me curious. He was my mentor who would always catch me when I fell, but also encouraged me to be more than I ever thought I could be.

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

I believe that my empathetic approach to the workplace, co-workers, customers, and partners brings a level of integrity to a world that is now all too often fractured by differences and disagreements I truly do believe and try to act in a way that reflects on our differences by walking in someone else’s shoes and trying to understand their perspective in order to build common ground. I also go out of my way to help other women by mentoring them and giving them chances that they might typically have never received.

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

Live the golden rule. I was always taught to treat others as you would like to be treated. I strongly believe in the Golden Rule. I was always taught to treat others as you would like to be treated. I view my job as giving back and helping others to reach and achieve what they never thought possible, which is what helped me reach my level of leadership. I have always been humble and tried to stay grounded, and my leadership ethos is to always be authentic to your true self. That has helped me build high performing teams that respect one another.

We are very blessed that 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 with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-).

Michelle Obama. She is an amazing woman on all fronts — career, family, community. What I most identify with her is her statement “When they go low, we go high”. It’s always easier to find fault and talk about what’s wrong. Instead, let’s work together to build common ground and a more perfect world.

Thank you so much for this. This was very inspirational, and we wish you only continued success!

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Inspirational Women Leaders Of Tech: Anamarie Huerta Franc of SAP Labs On The Five Things You Need… 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: Luca Sabbatini Of Elchim On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Beauty Industry

When you are the son of the President, you have to show your personal value even more than following a normal career from the bottom. I started to be and behave differently when I learned that success is based on never-stopping to improve what you are already doing and listening to the other people that have more experience than you. Certainly, this also came along with age and maturity.

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 Luca Sabbatini, CEO Elchim. When it comes to working in the salon, your tools are everything. Having the right tools can make or break a look, and are key to making your life easier. Enter the Elchim 2001 Dryer, a blowdryer that guarantees 2,000 working hours with five temperature settings, high-pressure air compression technology and has been named the best dryer by Life & Style, Best Beauty Buy by InStyle USA and is a two-time winner of the prestigious “Allure Best” award.

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?

I’m literally born in the beauty industry. My grandmother and my grand uncle founded Elchim in 1945, my father joined the family business in the late ’70s, and I have been attending beauty B to B show, Cosmoprof and other beauty shows since I was only a 14 year old and at that age I sold my first Elchim’s hairstyling tools container! I grew up with “bread and hairstyling tools” and from that came my passion for this incredible industry.

Before joining my family full time in running Elchim, I had first to finish University and then worked some years in a primary European multinational Company so I was able to understand the basics of business and received extra managerial skills in finance and project management.

In 2007 I finally entered in the Company as a full time job and started the long business development phase which took Elchim to the next level and we were able to increase the worldwide presence of the brand!

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

In over 13 years at Elchim I might be able to write a full book on the things we have done, people I have met and strange and interesting things that have happened.

Initially my parents didn’t want me to work for the family Company. My father, in particular, never insisted, and he was always telling me to follow my paths on the base of what I had the love for.

However, 2007 one day I told my father, “What about if I joined Elchim”, I saw a great pride in his eyes and I still remember the first day early September when sitting around a table he said, “You are the fresh new wind and the future is in you. I’ll support financially your dreams and invest in the new products you have in mind!” From that time on we started a revolutionary time in Elchim with a new team, new ideas, novelties in design and image and a lot of excitement for the entire team… !

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?

When you are the son of the President, you have to show your personal value even more than following a normal career from the bottom. I started to be and behave differently when I learned that success is based on never-stopping to improve what you are already doing and listening to the other people that have more experience than you. Certainly, this also came along with age and maturity.

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?

The first thank you goes to my grandparents that were looking already at me as the future of Elchim, then my father who gave to me a lot of responsibility since the very beginning and relied on my new ideas and innovations and last but not least I thank God for this incredible gift and the responsibility to create wealth not only for my family but for several families working in and around Elchim.

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

Well, please don’t ask me to disclose important novelties that are coming up. Certainly, we are going in the direction of the hair well-being. Today is the time of thinking not only to make faster and powerful dryers or irons, it’s time to look at the integrity of hair.

Technology is nothing if does not help people to have more beautiful and healthier hair!

In order to achieve this goals blowout and styling become beauty and healthy rituals.

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?

Some people and some markets aren’t oriented to hair well-being yet and we know some distributors still focus their distribution strategies on low prices and apparent performance which at the very end damage the hair cuticles.

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

In three things: art behind hairstyling techniques and relevant technologies, the research of continuous improvement, the desire to make people happy. At the end of the day, a perfect hairstyling makes people feel better and happier!

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?

Some inventions even in the hairstyling tools are simply result of a good marketing. I hope these times, especially after Covid emergency, will make innovations more concrete and people will learn what is really useful and healthy for their hair.

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.)

“To feel beautiful” is a state of mind so first of all if you don’t feel beautiful you have to probably change your life and mind. Positive thinking, being helpful to the other people and finally, if you have the chance, dress, eat and have a hairstyling that make you happy and comfortable.

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 think in life it is very important to understand the concept of sharing.

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

This is not my quote but is in my heart since my first day at Elchim:” If you keep doing the same thing, you’ll get the same results.”

Things are changing rapidly in today’s life and it is very important in business to self adapt to the different environment and understand in advance the future scenarios.

How can our readers follow you online?

You can follow Elchim and all the innovations awe are planning to uncover in 2020 @elchim_usa_official

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

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

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Incorporate wellness and spa features into your bathroom.

Your bathroom space should be more than just a place for grooming and hygiene, and you can bring more joy to your space by making it a room to rest and recharge. Enhance your home by designing your bathroom to be your very own in-house spa and create a space for relaxation, meditation, and even exercise.

As part of my series on the “5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniele Busca. Daniele is Creative Director and Brand Ambassador of Scavolini USA.

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

I’m a fashion designer by trade. I attended the Academy of Costume and Fashion in Rome, and then worked for a luxury fashion brand, but have always had a passion for interior design. 15 years ago, I decided to take a break from the stressful pace of Italy’s fashion industry and spend a few months in Miami to recharge (I love the sea, swimming and warm weather, so I thought it was the perfect place.)

While on my trip, I reconnected with the owners of a successful company carrying Italian furniture design brands — which included Scavolini — who I had met a few months before back in Italy. They invited me out for dinner and offered me a job as marketing director to promote their business because, as they told me, “You are Italian and a designer and you know all of this.” (Thanks Javier, Mark and Rey!)

The rest is history. Using my fashion industry knowledge and my eye for interior design, I was able to help clients create spaces that were at the intersection of high fashion and functionality. I eventually became the creative director and brand ambassador for Scavolini USA, helping bring collections for the incredible and innovative brand to American homes.

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

Interestingly, the most unique aspect of this career has been my move to the U.S — and starting a new life on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. It has been a sequence of interesting stories that have collectively built my experience and reputation. I moved here in 2005, when I was 41.

Everything is different here: My first grocery trip lasted three hours and I left with a headache. I could not find anything familiar to me besides Barilla pasta, and half of the groceries ended up in the garbage.

At work in the U.S., I was able to interact with Cosmopolitan personalities, and learn from well-traveled, top industry professionals with a true passion for Italian design. I learned a lot from them, and noticed how highly the American interior design industry regarded Italian-made design. It was looking at it from a different angle, not as an insider like me, and I felt more responsibility on my end to deliver the top-quality design, which is what these discerning clients expect from an Italian product.

Moving in the USA has been the most important experience in my life, like a master’s degree after college.

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 Italy we say, “Only doers make mistakes.” And when you make mistakes, you always learn a lesson. One instance in particular I can’t forget, and I still laugh about it today.

I was organizing the opening event of the company’s third store in Coral Gables, Florida. I was able to find a Soprano singer, get a beautiful Steinway baby grand piano, rosewood one-piece piano and other fabulous elements that would ensure the event was a memorable one.

I’m a creative guy, so excel and spreadsheets are for sure not my thing. While compiling the mailing list, with almost 1,000 names and addresses, I noticed that the list was not in alphabetical order. I decided to make it right so I clicked the sort button and voila: all the names were now in order. The problem — I’d inadvertently mismatched all of the addresses.

Luckily, the store’s owner caught it when he noticed the address of a contact he knew was incorrect, and then quickly realized that all the addresses were wrong. While no invitations went to the incorrect addresses, it took two days to fix all of the labels.

I learned a few things from this small blunder. First and foremost — never assume you know what you are doing (for me this is especially true with technology). Also, the importance of helping your colleagues succeed. Luckily for me, a colleague was able to catch my mistake before it became an even larger issue. While this is just one small example, I’ve learned throughout my career that when one member of your team succeeds, you all succeed, so it is important to always support and offer assistance to your coworkers and employees.

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

I’m getting ready to moderate an interesting panel discussion that will be held virtually during Design Chicago in partnership with Scavolini and ELLE Décor. It’s called Boss Ladies 3.0. The panelists are four amazing women who are successful entrepreneurs and well respected in the U.S. and abroad.

We will be focusing the conversation on the effects of COVID-19 on the design business, related issues, and how to overcome these unprecedented times. We will send a positive message to women (and men) that work in the industry and are looking for some good guidance and advice. Creativity is always a resource when the issues are unknown, and the solutions for our current situation require thinking out of the box.

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

There are several quotes I’ve been told that have proven beneficial in my life, however one in particular is very dear to me — “Learn a trade and save it for a rainy day.” Growing up, my aunt told me this over and over again.

She owned a store, and knew how to run a business smoothly and successfully. She showed me and taught me how to interact with clients and your employees, and that you must always be passionate about your work, true to your words, and care about your clients and the finished product.

35 years later, I opened Scavolini USA’s flagship company owned showroom in Soho, New York. At the time, it was the largest store in Manhattan for European kitchen cabinets. After all these years I can tell that no matter what you do for a living, to be successful, your job must be your true passion. It is passion, together with preparation, skills, perseverance and resilience, that makes you succeed and shine.

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

I’ll never understand the soloists that say “me, me, me.” I appreciate team players that say “us, us, us.”

I believe that in our career we are like musicians in an orchestra, we start as a violinist and at one point, after a lot of rehearsals, concerts and hard work we eventually become the director. But why be a director if there is no orchestra? We always need an orchestra.

From my first internship in Rome as fashion designer in a Haute Couture Atelier, to my position today as Scavolini USA’s Creative director and Brand Ambassador, there are many people that helped me to be where I am now. But one person in particular, Scavolini USA’s CEO, Francesco Farina, has played a pivotal role in my professional life.

We met briefly in Miami in 2008 at a business lunch, right after he was appointed CEO of the newly founded Scavolini USA Inc. — the first Scavolini branch outside of Italy. At that lunch, and after a brief conversation, he saw qualities in me that were relevant to him and the future of the company.

I was working for another global company as marketing director for the anglophone markets at the time. Several months later, he called me out of the blue offering me the position of creative director in New York City for Scavolini USA.

My answer was, “Thanks so much Francesco but I can’t accept. It is far too cold in NYC.” I received many phone calls after that one, and the rest is history. I’ve spent the last 10 years in New York as Scavolini USA’s Creative Director, helping clients make their dream interior spaces a reality. I do still miss Miami from November to April though.

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

1. Incorporate wellness and spa features into your bathroom.

Your bathroom space should be more than just a place for grooming and hygiene, and you can bring more joy to your space by making it a room to rest and recharge. Enhance your home by designing your bathroom to be your very own in-house spa and create a space for relaxation, meditation, and even exercise.

Wellness is a trend that is becoming paramount in bathroom design, as we increasingly incorporate taking care of our body and mind into every aspect of our daily lives. Trends and innovations will continue to focus on spa and wellness features, incorporating inspiration from top luxury hotels to make bathrooms sanctuaries where design and beauty vibes with our body and energies.

Looking back to ancient Rome, baths were monumental buildings or “cathedrals of wellness,” and the use of steam rooms and hot and cold water became a science. This “Mens sana in corpore sano,” or “a healthy mind in a healthy body” will permeate future bathroom trends, with designated areas for fitness that incorporate pilates, cardio or gymnastic equipment.

Scavolini’s Gym Space project is a great example of this. The collection combines bathroom furnishings with fitness equipment, eliminating “the commute” from your exercise to your post-workout shower. Customizable for spaces of any size, the Gym Space project blends style, functionality and endless configuration possibilities.

2. Open up your space.

We are living, despite a plethora of ways to connect with people, a more isolated life. That is why the living room is now kitchen-centric, because of the ritual related to the cooking which is at the end an act of love, to the people we care about most. The upside of a kitchen-centered living space is certainly the fact we entertain and have a true connection with people.

For this reason, adding an open concept kitchen, or “social kitchen” layout can elevate your space. The kitchen has truly become the new living room, a place where we gather to eat, socialize and even work. This design works in spaces of any size, and is generally composed by a perimetral back wall and an island which is in the heart of the living room.

Making the kitchen an extension of the living room enhances both the aesthetics and functionality of the space. Use warm color palettes like “greige” in lacquer or matt glass door panels that complements the room’s furniture, and texture finishes like woods in light or very dark hues.

To enhance your kitchen space, avoid handles on cabinets and appliances, and use fully integrated appliances that can mount custom doors and use pantries that hide ovens or small appliances.

3. Make it multifunctional.

Form and function are paramount for homeowners, and a great kitchen design should have both. Today’s kitchens should have multiple purposes for our busy lives. It’s an in-home office space, a place for entertaining and the center of your meals and cooking.

While many are temporarily working from home as a result of COVID-19, working from home was a growing trend beforehand, and will continue to increase in years to come as technology makes remote working more common. This means multifunctional kitchen spaces will remain a necessity.

Not having a designated space to work can impede productivity, and — especially in smaller spaces — finding an area of your home to dedicate to working can be tricky. Scavolini’s BoxLife by Rainlight can house an entire kitchen, living room, sleeping area, or any combination to keep small spaces stylish and tidy. This design is ideal for transforming your bedroom or kitchen area into your work space, and keeping your work space out of sight when you want to relax.

4. Design your space to be long lasting.

Interior renovations are an investment, and one of the best ways to create a space that sparks joy is to design one that you’ll love — and more importantly will remain intact — for a long time.

Use materials that are built to last. Technology is playing a major role in the performance of materials, and the following materials will have the longest lasting lifespan.

Glass: Glass is recyclable, resistant and basically eternal. It is tempered for safety reasons and painted offering an infinite gamut of colors in matte or glossy finishes, and it is very easy to clean.

Lacquer: Matte or glossy water-based finishes are the most sustainable, as they are now VOCs free and, thanks to technology advancements in the way the finishes are applied, have become very hard to damage. When buffered the gloss finish will return to its original shine.

Fenix: Fenix is the latest version of laminate made using nanotechnology. This strong, sustainable material is used for countertops, or to build integrated sinks for kitchen and bathroom vanities as well so you can match doors to the countertops. It comes in interesting colors from black to white and hot colors like Jaipur red. While not incredibly popular yet, Fenix is quickly gaining ground for its durability and longevity.

Sustainability plays a large role in creating a space that’s built to last. Scavolini’s designs and materials are built to last, expanding the lifespan of clients’ new spaces, and limiting environmental impact. For the structure of all kitchens and many other elements, Scavolini uses Idroleb Ecological Panels. These panels are 100% post-consumer recycled wood with the lowest formaldehyde emission, and offer excellent performance levels in terms of durability and stability. Additionally, almost all the materials used by Scavolini can be recycled to produce new materials or generate energy.

5. Refresh your space with what you already have.

There’s not always a need for a total renovation. You can easily breathe new life into your interior spaces with things you already have, or on a very limited budget. Here are some ways you can give your space a fresh perspective.

• Declutter. A less cluttered, more simplistic space will help you feel better and be more productive. Getting rid of unused or overused objects is the easiest way to refresh your space and help you feel more organized. Unless it represents a great memory, don’t think twice and don’t look back. The room will look and feel immediately fresher.
• Improve lighting. Replace old drapes and blinds with light fabrics, or, if you have an interesting or modern window frame, remove the window treatment all together. Natural light will immediately bring an energizing vibe into the room. If your space is lacking in natural light, table lamps of different shapes and sizes placed in different locations throughout the room is a cool way to bring in more light. For example, placing lamps on shelves between books can make a space look stylish and feel brighter.
• Display cool objects on shelves in your kitchen and living spaces. This creates a high-end look, and can easily be your grandma’s wedding dishes, or other objects you already own.
• For a pop of color, add a cart with a bright finish, or reupholster chairs or stools.
• For a lower-cost bathroom that looks high-end, use tiles or wallpaper to create beautiful, elegant designs and add a cool rug to make a statement.
• If the ceilings are high, a low-cost large pendant fixture can elevate the bathroom’s look.
• Enhance your closet with LED light strips and a cool rug combined with an oversized mirror and cool frame to create a “dramatic” look. Displaying outfits and accessories in an organized and neat way also enhances a closet’s look.
• For elevated art, use one large-scale artwork instead of several smaller ones. If you don’t have the budget to invest in art, and you are afflicted by “timor vacui,” buy empty frames in different styles from thrift stores and place them in a cluster.

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

Since I was a kid I always dreamed to be an active figure in helping others succeed, especially kids without family or resources, or those living in a difficult environment.

Kids are our future and we, as adults, have the obligation to take care of them, even if we are not their parents, and give them the opportunity to grow sane, safe and learn and pursue their dreams and aspirations. I hope to do that both in the USA and maybe in another country. I hope to be an inspiration and mentor to kids, and aspiring interior designers, to help them have all of the opportunities I have had to become successful.

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

Like many people, Michelle Obama has been an inspirational figure to me. She brought needed global attention to racial, social and gender inequality issues. Additionally, her intelligence, education, style and kindness inspire people like me. Plus — lunch or breakfast with her is guaranteed to be healthy, too.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Instagram: @ScavoliniUSA

Facebook: Scavolini USA

Twitter: @ScavoliniUSA

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

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

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Patience. I’ve talked to potential clients for over a year before they’ve signed up with us. It’s kind of impossible to tell who’s yanking your chain and who’s serious. I had a woman who talked to me for hours at a time about the book she wanted to do, talked to one of my team members, promised she’d hire us, disappeared and then resurfaced a year later, wanting to have more exploratory conversations with us. I put my foot down with her but I’ve had people do that and then end up hiring us. We sell an unusual service and people get scared about finally working on a book they’ve wanted to write their whole lives. So it takes patience. It makes me feel for real estate agents and car salesmen!

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

Anna David is one of the world’s leading experts on how entrepreneurs can build a business from a book. A NYT bestselling author of eight books, she’s also the founder of Legacy Launch Pad Publishing, which has overseen numerous books that have become Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestsellers.

https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/

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?

Writing is all I ever wanted to do. I cried when I was seven and discovered that the youngest author was six so I couldn’t set the record. I still have my first rejection letter, from when I was 10. I worked at magazines right out of college and once I was writing for places like Details, Cosmo and Playboy, I wrote my first book. I published four with HarperCollins, one with Simon & Schuster that became a NYT bestseller and I was broke; I somehow thought the cliché that writers don’t make money didn’t apply to me. I realized, in my mid-thirties, that even though I was a writer, I was also an entrepreneur since I was constantly having to sell myself and my books. And I thought: why don’t I try NOT to be a broke entrepreneur?!

I started studying marketing, got a mentor (Joe Polish) and had several epiphanies: one, that entrepreneurship combined my two passions (words and psychology) just as much as writing; two, that making money wasn’t a bad thing and three, that the world may not value writers per se but it values writing skills.

I also discovered something my publishers never told me: while few make money from book sales, many make money from the businesses they build on the backs of their books. After my first book, Party Girl, was released I was thrust into the role of “addiction expert,” and started going on TV every week to talk about addiction, doing TEDx talks on the topic and being interviewed for magazines and websites. This didn’t do anything for me, per se, because I didn’t have a business but I saw that if the attention a book gave you did support a business, it could really help it grow. But I didn’t want an addiction business because that would mean going into the morally corrupt world of rehabs. So, I thought, what business did I want to build with my books?

I decided I didn’t want anyone to be in the situation I’d been in: throwing everything into a book and discovering that you couldn’t survive on book sales. So it became my passion to create books for entrepreneurs and then show them to how to use those books to build their careers and leave a legacy.

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

Probably it was when my first team member ended up accusing me of stealing her IP. It was the craziest situation: someone I’d paid enough money to buy a house was suddenly coming at me. Unfortunately, I’d paid her in advance for books and so I had to get a lawyer to retrieve the material I’d paid for years earlier. It really taught me about trust. People asked me after, “Didn’t you see the red flags? Looking back, couldn’t you tell she couldn’t be trusted?” And the answer is, not at all. I’d known her for over a decade. I’d let her stay in my guestroom, introduced her to countless friends and clients and had been to her kid’s birthday party a few months before this happened. I hate to say that this experience taught me not to trust people, but it did teach me that untrustworthy people aren’t always waving red flags. Sometimes they’re pink or even white.

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

There was an error at a printing press and the factory accidentally put pages of another book they were printing in one of our books. That other book was what could be summarized as “cartoon devil porn.” All the printing press could say was “Sometimes pages of the previous book we were printing get placed in another book.” So it wasn’t our mistake but it impacted us. Trust me, I make mistakes every day and often they’re not that funny.

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?

About five years ago, I was able to meet and become friends with Joe Polish, one of the greatest marketers of all time and someone considered the “world’s greatest connector.” I cannot express enough the impact he’s had on my life. If I hadn’t met him, I guarantee I wouldn’t have a business that’s close to hitting seven figures this year.

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 have a self-funded company and honestly don’t know anything about raising money. I also know so many powerhouse women that I truly don’t know that many who are being held back. I know the statistics are bad but I don’t feel like I know enough to comment on it.

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?

Mentorship. Mistakes. Therapy. And of course the way women are speaking out now about abuse in the workplace is enormously helpful. I will say I have found the emotional abuse from my male bosses far harder to handle than the sexual abuse. So I’m glad that this kind of thing — like with the Scott Rudin situation — is also being addressed.

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?

We’re amazing multi-taskers. Our emotional intelligence is high.

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

That we always know what we’re doing. Half of building my company has been making it up as I go.

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

I think the mistake a lot of people make today is they think coming up with a name and starting an Instagram account is the way to start a “brand.” And it may be but that doesn’t mean that brand is going to make you any money. It sounds obvious but the only way to make money is to provide an expensive service or product that a handful people will pay for or an inexpensive service or product a lot of people will pay for. I think the former is easier.

It’s also a cliché but you have to be a hard worker. I was recently talking to someone who wanted help building her business but had rules like “you can’t contact me on the weekends” and “I’ll do this but I won’t do that.” I told her that you can’t have both; you DO have to work hard and do things you don’t want to in order to get help from other people to build a business. And you NEED help from other people to build a business.

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.)

1) Patience. I’ve talked to potential clients for over a year before they’ve signed up with us. It’s kind of impossible to tell who’s yanking your chain and who’s serious. I had a woman who talked to me for hours at a time about the book she wanted to do, talked to one of my team members, promised she’d hire us, disappeared and then resurfaced a year later, wanting to have more exploratory conversations with us. I put my foot down with her but I’ve had people do that and then end up hiring us. We sell an unusual service and people get scared about finally working on a book they’ve wanted to write their whole lives. So it takes patience. It makes me feel for real estate agents and car salesmen!

2) An ability to fire bad clients. Most of the people we work with are amazing but we’ve had a few who were very abusive. I tried to tell one of them about halfway through the process that we weren’t the right fit but I chickened out. The next time we had a client like her, after a few weeks I told her we were terminating our contract and she could keep all the work we’d done. Frankly, she terrified me. Maybe one day I’ll have the ability to terminate a contract and not allow the person to keep the work but it felt like a small price to pay to not have to work with her anymore.

3) An ability to adapt. The business world changes every day. As a writer, I watched publishing fall apart between 2007 and 2010 and was very slow to catch onto the fact that self and hybrid publishing was the future. Success requires trying to think ahead; by the time it’s an article in Inc magazine or people are recommending a tactic on podcasts, you’re behind the curve. I go on walks and tell myself, “Channel your inner Bezos; figure out what people in publishing are going to be doing in 10 years.” I’ve actually had some great breakthroughs that way (nothing I can tell you because then other people will know!)

4) An ability to manage a team. While managing a team is, in my experience, far easier than being managed, it’s still not easy. When you’re paying people, you’re dealing with whatever their unresolved issues are around authority. You’re dealing with mistakes — the ones you’re making AND the ones they’re making. It requires saying you’re wrong a lot. It requires reflecting on all the good and bad bosses you’ve had and trying to emulate the former and avoid being like the latter.

5) An ability to take time off. You need to recharge. I’m terrible at this.

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

I think so. We’ve published numerous addiction recovery memoirs and I know from writing my own books on addiction how many people I hear from regularly who say my book helped them get sober. I believe we help to eradicate shame around addiction for both the authors and their readers.

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.

I would find a way to extend a woman’s childbearing years so they could process their trauma before having it spill out onto their kids. The greatest tragedy, to me, is that hurt people hurt people and most haven’t resolved their trauma before they’re out of childbearing age. Cycles repeat themselves. As the least scientific person in the world, I haven’t a clue if this could ever be possible but it certainly would be amazing. I don’t mean to sound like Marianne Williamson but I truly believe that if people processed their trauma, there would be fewer wars and tragedies because people would take their egos out of their decisions and proceed with love.

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.

Arianna Huffington. I’m not saying that because this is Thrive. I’m saying it because she’s a badass and the queen of reinvention. I heard her say on a podcast that the quote she lives by is Rumi’s “Live life like it’s rigged in your favor” and I adopted it as my own. Also, I was once introduced to her and she was cool AF.

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

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