Category: Featured

Female Disruptors: Fiona Kong OF Home Sweet Homes Journal On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up…

Female Disruptors: Fiona Kong OF Home Sweet Homes Journal On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Believe in yourself. This seems so basic, but nobody will be a bigger advocate of your business than you! If I didn’t believe in my mission and that I am capable of doing this, I certainly would not have gotten to this point.

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

After becoming a single mom and being laid off from her job as an analyst at Verizon Media/Yahoo!, Fiona Kong founded the Home Sweet Homes Journal in 2020 in pursuit of helping co-parenting families, specifically focused on the needs of the child. Home Sweet Homes Journal is a one-of-a-kind tool that empowers kids to process big feelings, better navigate and share their two home experiences in a safe and loving way.

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

I am a first-generation Chinese-American, born and raised in Maryland. My parents immigrated to the states in the 80’s and growing up, I remember them not being around much as they worked a lot to provide for our family. Our household/culture was one where we did not freely communicate feelings or express love and I remember wishing my family could be like the fun and happy ones I saw on TV.

I was raised with the expectation to study hard and get good grades. And that’s what I did. I graduated college with a business degree, and entered the workforce, ultimately working as an analyst at Yahoo. It was during this time I met my son’s father and welcomed my son in 2016.

In early 2019, my son’s father and I decided to separate and later that year, my job was eliminated. The pandemic hit and all of a sudden, the whole world paused. This time was a gift in many ways as it allowed me to really think about my passions and what I wanted to do with my life. One of those things was to find a way to better support my son as he navigated life between two homes.

The idea for Home Sweet Homes Journey began in June 2020 as a way just to help my own family. I’d been co-parenting for about a year and when my son was at his father’s home, I felt disconnected from him, wondering what he was doing, eating, and how he was feeling and coping emotionally.

I wanted a way to make sure my son always felt supported and loved despite our separation. It was a purchase of a $2 dollar store planner that led me to create Home Sweet Homes, my co-parenting journal business.

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

Parental separation is considered to be one of the ten ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences), a potentially traumatic event that occurs in children (0–17 years of age). The higher number of ACEs a child experiences is often correlated to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance use problems in adolescence and adulthood.

What makes Home Sweet Homes Journal unique, is that up until now, there hasn’t been a tool that approaches supporting children of divorce in this manner. When creating it, I set out to solve a multitude of issues kids often experience due to parental separation including helping them identify and manage difficult emotions, providing a method to navigate their dual lives and schedules, and a way to still feel like a united family.

I didn’t grow up feeling connected to my parents, but I truly believe a strong relationship with one’s parents plays an important role in a child’s mental and emotional wellbeing. I’m here to change the way co-parenting is approached, to do so in a way that really focuses on the child’s needs and supports them in a compassionate and loving way. We’re providing families peace of mind and empowering kids in a way that has never been done before. With Home Sweet Home Journals, we’re helping co-parenting families create that bonding experience that can often be missed when children are living in two households. With our journal, we’re giving co-parenting families a chance to reinvent and redefine how to be a family.

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 wouldn’t say this is funny in the traditional sense but it really helps to find the humor in making mistakes. When I first went to hire a graphic designer for my journal, I turned to Fiver. I found a designer who had an excellent style and aesthetic based on the photos in her portfolio. However, she had no experience creating a journal but I still decided to hire her. When I got the first design round back, I was shocked! The graphics and style were all over the place, nothing matched or felt cohesive.

I feel like hiring good help is hard to find in general. As an entrepreneur, you’ll encounter a lot of things you have no experience doing such as hiring. The next time I hire, I’d certainly take the time to do my due diligence. There are lots of things I could have done better such as write out a formal job description and get designers to submit a sample journal page design. Also, I’d definitely recommend asking friends, family and others in your network for recommendations as this ended up being an expensive mistake!

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

When I started my business, I didn’t have anybody within my social or professional network that was also an entrepreneur that I could lean into for their expertise. I’ve always heard you should surround yourself with the folks you aspire to be like. Since I didn’t have actual people in my life to turn to, I joined a community for founders, have utilized resources such as podcasts to help guide me, and began following and learning about how other entrepreneurs such as Sarah Blakely have achieved success.

Luckily, there are so many resources available in this day and age available to all. I’m consistently networking and always passively on the lookout for a mentor that’d be a good match for me.

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?

The funny thing is, disruptive doesn’t sound positive. It sounds, well, disruptive. But it truly depends on what the term “disruptive” is referring to. Being disruptive is absolutely not a good thing when it can be harmful to someone or something. However, I like to think that when you’re causing a positive change that has yet to take effect, that can be disruptive.

I am trying to “disrupt” the way we view co-parenting and create a united front for co-parenting families. That’s disruptive because it hasn’t been done. Up until now, co-parenting hasn’t been approached in a truly cohesive and child-focused way. But I’m now “disrupting” that idea and showing that with Home Sweet Homes Journal, co-parenting families can work and bond together to create a positive future for their children.

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

Take action! Don’t wait till it’s perfect… 80% done is good enough. This is a piece of advice most entrepreneurs such as Jay Shetty have said. Many of us tend to spend so much time perfecting something that in the end, you miss out on moving yourself forward.
To be most effective, plan your day and work activity and tasks around your energy levels. This requires you to pay close attention to yourself and your rhythms. I am the most creative and do my best writing in the early hours of the morning so when I get up, I’ll plan that time for all tasks that require those skills.
Believe in yourself. This seems so basic, but nobody will be a bigger advocate of your business than you! If I didn’t believe in my mission and that I am capable of doing this, I certainly would not have gotten to this point.

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

I have a few ideas brewing that are a tangent to my journal idea but can only handle one thing at a time! Funny thing, I started a TikTok account and one evening when my son was with his dad, I was eating dinner alone. I threw out a concept for a virtual dinner for co-parents when our kids were away. My video took off and hit over 1M views. There was so much interest that I ran with it, organized a dinner and folks want to keep them going! It’s been such a welcome and needed support group and a way for co-parents to connect socially on days where our kids are away. This goes to show you that life as an entrepreneur can be quite unpredictable and exciting to pivot as you never know where you’ll end up.

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

I think males often automatically perceive each other as peers whereas females tend to be scrutinized more harshly and have to prove they belong or deserve to have a seat at the table. Having worked in corporate for 15 years, it was commonplace to feel like there was an exclusive “all boys club” when it came to executive level decisions and conversations.

Being a woman disruptor, specifically a single mom comes along with certain biases and a double standard that I feel a single dad would never face such as whether one can handle work/parent life, have tough enough skin to be an entrepreneur or possess the needed leadership qualities to succeed. Sometimes I feel the odds are so stacked against me, but I believe women, single moms especially, are some of the toughest people out there — we’re driven and fully capable of achieving success.

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

There are so many, but Eddie Pinero’s Your World Within is one of my favorite podcasts. In fact, I listen to it nearly every morning as a way to get my day started and help my head get in the right place because being an entrepreneur requires you to be mentally strong. Your World Within is a great combination of life motivation and inspiration and is very relevant to those who are an entrepreneur.

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 healing from our childhood wounds and trauma is one of the single most important things we can do toward making strides for a more peaceful and harmonious society. I don’t think people realize how much of our past we bring into our future, even unintentionally. Trauma can and is often passed down from one generation to the next and unless we really address these issues and do the work to heal, we can’t be the best versions of ourselves. Becoming self-aware allows us to be more understanding, gentle and empathetic toward one another and I think that in itself could change the world.

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

One quote that’s really made an impact on me is “Everything worthwhile is uphill” by John Maxwell. Inherently, we all want the end result whether it be a happy and fulfilling relationship, to be in great shape, or have a successful business, but few are willing to do the hard work to get it.

Being a single mom and entrepreneur has been the most challenging, grueling and most mentally taxing and exhausting period in my life. I know I have to be committed, consistent, and relentless toward my pursuit as there are no shortcuts.

How can our readers follow you online?

Readers can take a look at our Home Sweet Homes Journal site, here. Be sure to also follow our journey on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.

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

Female Disruptors: Fiona Kong OF Home Sweet Homes Journal 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.

Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Erica Colon of The Perecman Firm On The Five…

Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Erica Colon of The Perecman Firm On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Mindset matters — positivity and confidence don’t always come naturally, but it is important to try and keep a positive mindset. Confidence will come with time.

In the United States in 2022, fields such as Aircraft piloting, Agriculture, Architecture, Construction, Finance, and Information technology, are still male-dominated industries. For a woman who is working in a male-dominated environment, what exactly does it take to thrive and succeed? In this interview series, we are talking to successful women who work in a Male-Dominated Industry who can share their stories and experiences about navigating work and life as strong women in a male-dominated industry. As a part of this series, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Erica Colon, Trial Lawyer at The Perecman Firm, P.L.L.C.

Erica Colon takes pride in representing and advocating for workers, children, families and other individuals who have been wrongfully injured.

As a plaintiff’s trial attorney at The Perecman Firm, P.L.L.C., she concentrates her legal practice in all aspects of personal injury law, including car accidents, workplace injuries, premises liability and construction accidents. Over the course of her career, Erica has obtained numerous multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements on behalf of her clients, helping them recover the compensation they deserve.

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 grew up in a small suburb of Rochester, NY, with my parents and siblings. As one of 4 children, it was always chaotic, but in the best way. Summer family vacations were some of the best memories growing up. I played sports from a young age through college and loved the challenge, growth, and competition that came with it. My parents worked hard to provide for us and set the example that we had to work hard for what we wanted, and nothing was going to be handed to us. I started working as early as I could and worked extremely hard to get to where I am now in my career.

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

I always excelled in school and loved learning, both in and out of the classroom. The law always intrigued me, and at some point during college, I made the commitment to pursue law school. I found my way into personal injury litigation during a summer associate position and loved the experience and work. Most of my work now is representing injured workers, and I have a real appreciation for the dangers people face every day going to work. I love advocating for people and making an impact.

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?

Integrity — your name precedes you. Let it do so in a good way.

Being self-aware — there is always room for growth and an opportunity to learn something.

Staying positive — Keeping a positive perspective, especially in stressful situations, helps to navigate challenges that come up in work and personal life.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Can you help articulate a few of the biggest obstacles or challenges you’ve had to overcome while working in a male-dominated industry?

For me, one of the biggest obstacles early in my career was the feeling of walking into a room, knowing that you have to prove yourself. With that, it’s easy to let imposter syndrome sneak in. Reminding myself how hard I worked to get to where I am and how capable I am at doing the job and doing it well has helped to grow my confidence in time. That, and always showing up prepared, have been critical to overcoming those challenges.

Most recently, one of the biggest challenges after becoming a mom is setting boundaries while proving to my peers and myself that I am still capable and thriving at work. The reality is that becoming a mom has made me more efficient in my working hours — a lot of the skills you gain as a new mom translate into strengths in the workplace.

Can you share a few of the things you have done to gain acceptance among your male peers and the general work community? What did your female co-workers do? Can you share some stories or examples?

Advocate for yourself. Say yes to new opportunities when they present themselves. Demand respect, but also be respectful. I learned from a young age that no one owes you anything. Always prepare for the task at hand and show up equipped for the challenge so that you can rise to the occasion. Acceptance will come without hesitation if you show up from a place of hard work and integrity.

Share experiences with colleagues and peers and be each other’s support system. Also, don’t take the work or yourself too seriously. There is always something to learn. One of my friends and mentors often reminds me that it’s the practice of law, not the perfection of law. It’s important to remember that we’re all human.

What do you think male-oriented organizations can do to enhance their recruiting efforts to attract more women?

I think that, ultimately, a workplace that encourages collaboration and offers opportunities to both women and men would help attract women in their recruiting efforts.

Ok thank you for all of that. 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 In a Male-Dominated Industry?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

Challenge yourself — There is always something to learn, and taking risks often presents opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t have come up.
Steer clear of judgment — of yourself and others.
Don’t take things too personal (or too serious) — we’re our own worst critics. Welcoming constructive feedback has always helped me grow. It’s important to stay humble and be willing to learn.
Mindset matters — positivity and confidence don’t always come naturally, but it is important to try and keep a positive mindset. Confidence will come with time.
Collaborate — Ask questions, be a team player, and collaborate. Most of the best ideas and problem-solving come from a few people putting their heads together. No one has all of the answers. Be open and willing to work with others.

If you had a close woman friend who came to you with a choice of entering a field that is male-dominated or female-dominated, what would you advise her? Would you advise a woman friend to start a career in a field or industry that’s traditionally been mostly men? Can you explain what you mean?

I would tell her to pick the career that she wanted based on her skill set and aspirations, not on whether the industry is male- or female-dominated. Ultimately, if you work hard and show up prepared, you can break through any stereotypes or glass ceilings that might exist. The challenges that sometimes presented themselves in a male-dominated career were often the moments that offered the most opportunity for growth and success. In the same breath, some of my male colleagues have been my biggest advocates and mentors throughout the years. Understand that both men and women can be allies for each other. As long as you have the right work ethic and confidence, the room should not control your decision on whether or not to enter it.

Have you seen things change for women working in male-dominated industries, over the past ten years? How do you anticipate that it might improve in the future? Can you please explain what you mean?

I think it continues to improve. When I graduated from law school almost 10 years ago, there were fewer law firms with female lawyers. I see more women becoming lawyers and entering the courtroom, and thriving in this (and other) male-dominated industries. It’s great to see. I think it will continue to improve as we continue to welcome equal opportunities and advocate for ourselves and each other.

Where you work also makes a difference. I have worked in firms that have a diverse or supportive culture, and I’ve worked in firms that did not. With my current employer, I feel I am respected, as are my other female peers. It’s both motivating and encouraging to come to a workplace day in and out where I feel respected and that my input is valued.

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 would love to meet Mariska Hargitay. I’ve always loved watching her acting career and think it is admirable the philanthropist work she does off the screen with her non-profit “Joyful Heart Foundation,” which she created to help survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse. I respect her tenacity, admire her talents, and love how she has thrived and broke the mold in another male-dominated industry.

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

Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Erica Colon of The Perecman Firm On The Five… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women Of The C-Suite: Rosalind Lee On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Exe

Women Of The C-Suite: Rosalind Lee of ROLA.ai On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Doing nothing is the hardest yet the most important thing to do. Sometimes we want to accomplish a goal too badly and we push too hard. It almost feels like we have not tried enough. But it turns out, the more we push the more likely it would fail. Once, I wanted to close a deal so much that I kept on pushing both sides. I made sure all details were flawless and made a lot of notes and reports to make sure they got all the information and analysis. It turned out, my supervisor back then thought there must be something fishy as I was pushing too hard, whilst the other side also felt it was too perfectly handled and too good to be true. I learned that just trying your best effort, doing nothing too deliberate, and letting it ride when things are out of your hand will be the smoothest way to achieve your goal.

As a part of our interview series called “Women Of The C-Suite”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Rosalind Lee.

Rosalind Lee is the Chief Product Officer and the creative lead of ROLA.ai. She has designed various products and solutions with top-tier corporations from multiple industries, including blockchain, gaming, algo trading, payment, and card products.

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

If you meant crypto, I went into crypto because of my dog (he is a Shiba, the mascot of crypto). You heard right.

Back in 2020, after working on some projects on fintech and payments, I realized I have a talent for solution engineering and product design. I decided to venture into payment solutions, just when I invested most of my savings into it, he got Lymphoma again. I was quite in debt from his chemotherapy and needed to get more cash and I remembered my adventure with Bitcoin in 2017.

As the story goes, I kept making the same mistakes and losing money, but I started to become curious about why I have been losing money and kept exploring, reading, and learning about this industry.

But still, I am very grateful that I loselost money, if I hadn’t lost money, I wouldn’t have learned so much about blockchain and crypto.

The whole technology and culture became very interesting to me, I just enjoy so much being in the crypto industry. Then I worked on several in-house blockchain projects at a listed fintech company in Hong Kong and eventually got approached with the idea of ROLA.

In general, I guess I just love adventures and hate the idea of being boring. And that’s why I didn’t pursue a career in traditional banking like most of my classmates did upon graduating from Imperial College.

P.S. My Shiba is now doing well, 2023 marks the 4th year of his first therapy on Lymphoma. He has always reminded me to stay strong.

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

I started getting a lot more insomnia messages from friends in multiple time zones. My friends would text me in the middle of the night in their time zones and say “I can’t sleep. I know you are always online, and you don’t sleep, so talk to me.” It is true that I have a very quick response time because project and product management are extremely time critical. I am always online, but I do sleep, quite well and a lot.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I am a direct person who doesn’t like guessing or wasting time beating around the bush. When I first started my career, I worked at a company with a very ambiguous and “dodgy” bonus calculating system. One time I had a connection who could bring in a significant amount of revenue to the company. So, I went into the CEO’s room and asked directly “What is the bonus % going to be for me on this?” At first, he tried to give me an ambiguous answer, but I insisted on confronting him and getting the exact answer. Then he said, “I would rather not do it if the profit margin would be this little after giving you the bonus” I replied, “OK, I rather not do it if I don’t get the bonus”. The next thing I knew, I was picked on by the executives, especially after the CEO spread the rumor about me demanding for “illegal commission”. I have learned that sometimes you must fight smarter and adopt different strategies and approaches for different people.

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

My idol, Chen Kun, a famous actor, is also my mentor. He has inspired me to embrace my creativity, follow my heart, and trust my instinct.

Ever since I was a kid, I fell in love with literature and drama by watching his performance, and somehow, we bumped into each other in London. I was asking for an autograph but bothneither of us didn’t havehad a pen with us. So, he invited me over to have breakfast at his hotel the next day (You can’t imagine how starstruck I was). He encouraged me to follow my heart and that was also the first time I truly learned about the philosophy of Buddhism and about compassion, these shaped my own thoughts, and aesthetics. Later, we went on a 10-day trekking trip together to the Tibetan plateau, during which he was making fun with me like how your elder brother would, he was spanking my head, doing pranks, and making jokes with me. He did all these just because he could see that I was a very tense person. I have always tried to climb to the highest point and tried so hard to be the best and perfect…but he told me to stay relaxed, and to embrace my own inner child. He is the first person to have ever noticed my inner child as I have always been hiding it to portray the “professional” me. Embracing and being open with my childish side helps me to unlock all my creativity.

Now I am no longer pretending to be a person that I am not. I can confirm that this helps me to do product design, especially with all the creative features you can see in ROLA.

Learning to trust my instinct helps me to respond fast and stay calm when I need to improvise.

Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader?

I had to decide whether to continue working with a service provider or whether should we cut loss and switch to another. This was an example of being decisive in handling sunk cost fallacy. We spent months and development fees on a vendor who turned out to be not delivering and “blackmailing” for more payments. Our team had divided views, as “money and time were already invested”. I understood fully that there might be a chance that the provider just needed a little push to deliver but on the other hand, it might just be an endless hole. In the end, I decided to move on and replace them with a new service provider who actually delivered far better work within a shorter time period.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

Make decisions spontaneously and without hesitation. I think the main difference lies in decision-making and the pace of it.

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

It’s not sitting in a fancy room with a glass of whisky in hand as depicted on TV. It is about constant problem-solving and meditating on new ideas 24/7, there’s no actual office hourhours. You just have to be prepared to do anything and to be able to fill up the responsibilities and work when required, no matter how small and trivial they seem.

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

I would like to use my experience in the cigar lounge to demonstrate this. I am a person who loves to enjoy a cigar occasionally to relax, but usually, when I am in a cigar lounge, the men inside would walk away or stare at me with strange gazes. One time I even received comments like” Are you a gold digger just coming to get to a rich man?” It feels the same being a female executive in the crypto industry. In the crypto community, we see a lot of macho male influencers and traders flexing hard with their designer watches and supercars, whilst female influencers are deemed as trolls, incapable, and worse still, being made fun of. I remember one time when I was talking to a business partner and he said “Is there a Mr something who can actually make the decision, that we can talk to?” I think the stereotype of women executives isn’t at the decision-making level, is the same as “women don’t know how to enjoy a cigar”.

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

I think I kind of expected what I had to do. But the number of spontaneous decisions and instances that required quick problem-solving skills did exceed my imagination. Still, I enjoy all of it.

Is everyone cut out to be an executive? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

In my opinion, the most helpful traits will be curiosity, flexibility, and the willingness to learn; whilst if you are a person with an easy faint of heart and hesitant to make a decision, then most probably you should avoid aspiring to be an executive. Curiosity and the willingness to learn will allow you to accept new ideas whilst not being afraid to embrace new approaches. Being flexible allows you to respond to rapid changes with calmness and make the decision to solve the problem with ease. However, if you are a person with awho is faint of heart and hesitant to make a decision, then you may end up stalling and hindering the progress of your team and miss the correct timing.

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

Doing nothing is the hardest yet the most important thing to do. Sometimes we want to accomplish a goal too badly and we push too hard. It almost feels like we have not tried enough. But it turns out, the more we push the more likely it would fail. Once, I wanted to close a deal so much that I kept on pushing both sides. I made sure all details were flawless and made a lot of notes and reports to make sure they got all the information and analysis. It turned out, my supervisor back then thought there must be something fishy as I was pushing too hard, whilst the other side also felt it was too perfectly handled and too good to be true. I learned that just trying your best effort, doing nothing too deliberate, and letting it ride when things are out of your hand will be the smoothest way to achieve your goal.
Don’t ever make your friend your business partner. Several years ago, I referred a friend to be the business partner of the company I worked at. The company ended up not making the committed payment and my friend blamed me for being misleading. On the other hand, I was unhappy about my friend being inconsiderate. Friendship can be quite unexpectedly fragile when it involves money. Unless you are 100% in control, don’t ever make your friend your business partner if you cherish the friendship. I regret making this decision a lot.
You can’t please everyone. There are always “Karens” in the world and they pick on people for ridiculous reasons or no reason at all. I used to work with an executive, being one of the “Karens”, just kept shouting at people across the office for pleasure. Initially, I got shouted at for simply walking near her. I thought it was my fault and that I should try to play nice, and hopefully, she would stop just yelling at me. In the end, I realized it wasn’t personal. She was just being “Karen” and I don’t have to give a light.
There are no “enough” passion and knowledge. Being passionate helps me from procrastinating. I procrastinate a lot on tasks that I share no interest or passion in, andin and being able to identify the slightest ounce of passion in tasks enables fun and efficient solutions. Always be ready to learn new knowledge as it improves your conversation with people and helps you to be respected by them.
Be water. Adapt to changes but don’t lose your own nature. Uncertainty is the only certainty there is. There isn’t real “planning” as the situation develops and changes rapidly. Especially in product design and development, the grand plan may not work out due to sudden changes in regulation or the market response. Being flexible and being able to adapt is key to survival. However, don’t bend your way just to fit it, it doesn’t work as it may not fit the branding. I just had too many incidents where the grand plan didn’t work 100%…

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.

Mindfulness, for the workplace and for the crypto industry.

I used to volunteer and teach mindfulness, and I did an academic discussion and experiment to demonstrate how mindfulness has improved people’s financial decisions.

I think the rapid changes and volatility in this market require people to stay calm, not just on loss, but I also see many people get too carried away with gains. During the $LUNA fiasco, I was saddened to see people commit suicide and the “nonsense” people talked about when they made a profit. It was so polarized, and I see the need for a more compassionate and mindful community.

Florence Pugh. She is the most inspiring woman in the entertainment industry. Her way of being herself is truly a beacon to me. Whenever I hesitate “Should I wear this? Am I not good enough?” I would just think: If Florence can do it, I can be confident to do and wear whatever I want!

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

Women Of The C-Suite: Rosalind Lee On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Exe was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Gaby Koren of Glassbox On The Five Things You…

Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Gaby Koren of Glassbox On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Always be on time: Being mindful of your time as well as the time of others is the basis of respect between humans. Your punctuality is how you create a first impression, it is also how you balance your schedule and avoid rushing from one meeting to another. People who work for me know that I start meetings on time. I’ve learned to lead by example, which has driven mindful, respectful, and punctual behavior in others.

With over 20 years of sales and leadership experience, Glassbox Chief Revenue Officer Gabriela (Gaby) Koren pilots her team in growing the organization in emerging markets and optimizing operations. Since joining the team in 2019, she has significantly expanded business in the Americas by cultivating new customers, partners, and employees. Her vast experience in leading organizations with various go-to-market methodologies and introducing new solutions into several markets, geographies, and segments, has led businesses to scale and grow.

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

Before I became involved in the tech industry, I was a captain in the Israel Defense Forces. I had a clear path to finish my military service, complete my psychology studies, devote myself to the subject, and open a practice. Of course, my life did not follow this path.

Before I could dive into the psychology field, someone I knew from the military mentioned to me that they were looking for a part-time sales representative at a technology company. They described it as an easy role in which I could make some extra money while studying. Needless to say, I fell in love with sales, with the tech industry, and with growth strategies. The rest is history.

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

I was doing business internationally and I was very upset at our representative due to a deal that wasn’t progressing well. I was harsh in the meeting and laid down the reasons why we required adjustments- I put together a clear strategy.

When I finished, the three men in the meeting spoke in the local language that I didn’t understand. I asked for a translation and the answer was, “We are not used to a woman talking to us this way”. I took a few deep breaths so I could think of how to respond, and calmly said, “Do you agree with the facts?”. They answered, “Yes,” and a great business result came after. This led me to learn a lesson and instilled a guiding principle: I can’t change my gender, but I can certainly affect the outcome of the deal.

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?

This is an excellent question. The three character traits I would choose:

Planning: The ability to understand what tasks are the most important for that day or week allows me to plan accordingly and have clear priorities.

Trusting your intuition, but verifying: My success is in large part owed to surrounding myself with the best talent — people that push the entire organization forward and are not afraid to challenge ideas. However, that doesn’t mean that I can detach myself from operations. As a leader, it is important to trust your intuition and business acumen while also checking it against the opinions and expertise of your team. Being able to empower and delegate, while also being open and keeping in constant communication, is key.

Pragmatic decision-making: My role as a leader is to “clean the road” so my people can do their job. This requires me to reprioritize and make decisions multiple times a day. I learn to be pragmatic and decisive — not to over-debate.

Over my two decades of working for enterprise organizations, I’ve encountered many different obstacles and challenges as a woman. When I worked in certain international countries, I was firmly advised to never mention my age — I was in my thirties at the time. I learned that being a woman is a challenge in some of the countries with traditionally patriarchal societies, and to add my relatively young age would make things harder within the workplace.

Throughout my career, I’ve truly discovered what it means to stretch oneself. I’ve had to deftly juggle my advancement and responsibilities at work with raising a family. I learned about prioritization and balance, but to also rely on my family, friends, and support system in order to make it all work. Trying to do it all alone is not realistic.

As a woman with a majority of male peers, I often find myself having an extra drive to prove my worth and succeed. It feels like you are on a stage under the spotlight and everybody is watching, ready to criticize you. Some are even waiting for you to fail.

Over time, I learned that I got to where I am regardless of my gender because of my skills, passion, and willingness to work hard and give my best. Acceptance came when I let my experience and track record speak for themselves.

One of the best pieces of advice I received from a former boss was to refrain from expecting everybody to like me. The perception that males are tough and women are leading with softness is often wrong and overly stereotypical. In reality, those lines are blurred. To gain success in work and to earn widespread respect, I learned to lead with “tough but fair”, pushing traditional gender considerations out of the way.

What do you think male-oriented organizations can do to enhance their recruiting efforts to attract more women?

Depending on the industry and the roles they are trying to fill, there are many things these organizations can do. I would start by encouraging executives at male-dominated businesses to learn what the women that currently work at their company like and dislike about the organization’s culture.

Leaders should work to identify what is important for women within their company and the wider industry and understand what their organization is missing. By creating a dialogue and a female-led council, businesses can gather the best ideas and use them to improve recruiting efforts targeting women.

Additionally, organizations should always monitor gender diversity ratios, tracking workforce metrics and setting goals. If ratios fall below business expectations, executives must immediately take corrective measures by working with additional or different recruiters, offering incentives, implementing new benefits to aid retention, and more.

Organizations must also learn to celebrate their diversity and find ways to make female employees feel recognized and valued.

Ok, thank you for all of that. 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 In a Male-Dominated Industry?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

A few years ago I created the “5 principles by which I live my life”. Each of these principles has helped me thrive and succeed as a woman in a male-dominated industry. I developed these principles after a lot of thought and self-searching, and after a career spent navigating a series of challenges. I’ve shared these with my children, colleagues, peers and more.

These five guideposts have kept me centered and focused in work and in life, helping to advance my career:

Always be on time: Being mindful of your time as well as the time of others is the basis of respect between humans. Your punctuality is how you create a first impression, it is also how you balance your schedule and avoid rushing from one meeting to another. People who work for me know that I start meetings on time. I’ve learned to lead by example, which has driven mindful, respectful, and punctual behavior in others.

As women, we tend to keep more balls in the air; being on time helps us maintain balance and prioritization. When we’re on time at work, we can also make sure we’re carving out time for ourselves, which is crucial for sustaining productivity and innovation.

Be humble: Humility for me doesn’t mean being insecure. Instead, staying humble reminds me that I can always learn from others, from every interaction and every experience. Being humble means that I take time to listen and process information. I’ve seen women in male-dominated industries and organizations afraid to ask questions or voice their opinion for fear of how they are perceived. Humility can help them find their voice.

Within my teams at Glassbox, we’ve started a process in which we do peer-to-peer post-mortem analysis. We evaluate won or lost business by asking team members at random to run an analysis of what worked and what didn’t. Knowing that today someone may analyze your case and tomorrow you may analyze someone else eliminated ego, enabling everyone to approach the process with humility. This has allowed us to improve and capitalize on what we do well.

Be optimistic: Maintaining optimism is not to be mistaken with always seeing a rosy picture and not acknowledging realities. Especially being a minority woman, consistent discrimination and hardships can become a burden that impact one’s overall demeanor leading to a lack of confidence. I always remind my kids and the people that report to me to find a bright spot, a happy thought, a profound quote to help them gain perspective. One of my favorite quotes is from Nelson Mandela: “I never lose, I either win or I learn.”

Optimism is crucial to success- we must keep our heads up and believe in a brighter future if we are going to continue to thrive.

Never burn a bridge: The world is a small village and the relationships you build today may serve you tomorrow. Learning to never burn a bridge, even in adversarial situations, will pay in arrears in the future. Learning how to manage conflict is among the most valuable lessons to master, especially as a woman in a male-dominated setting.

We recently celebrated a major business win with an organization in which the main stakeholder and the account executive had encountered each other in previous roles at other companies. While this doesnt shorten the sales cycle, nor does it replace the hard work required, by not burning that bridge our team was able to secure significant new business, increasing organizational revenue. Maintaining relationships is a science and an art!

Always have a Plan B: Constantly running “what if” scenarios and learning to play ‘corporate strategy chess’ by always envisioning all possible next steps is key to success. I’ve seen too many women afraid to make a move, nervous to ask for a raise or a new position. When you envision all outcomes, it decreases the number of surprises you might face, which lets you plan ahead and think things through calmly. More often than not, this reduces stress and ensures you are making the right decisions.

As an executive, I work to train my employees to think ahead by always asking “what is your plan” and “what if”. This forces all of us to develop multiple forward-looking plans and ask the right questions to decrease surprises and increase preparedness.

When thinking about this question, I tried to think of different scenarios and what advice I would give. For starters, I would encourage my friend to go with her heart and choose a field in which she would find passion and purpose. Entering a field based on what you’re excited about is far more important than choosing a career path based on the ratio of men to women within the industry. Passion and heart will lead to a much longer and happier career.

In a way, long-term success and advancement in your field of choice relates to how much competition you have around you. A woman in a male-dominated field can find herself being unique, standing out, bringing perspectives that otherwise may be missed. On the other hand, a field predominantly dominated by women may provide more work-life balance, better benefits, more flexibility, less office politics. The question to my friend would be: what is the most important for you, what are your ambitions?

There is no doubt that over a span of 10 years a lot has changed for women in male-dominated industries. Not enough, but certainly changed for the better. Things are changing from 2 perspectives that create this “perfect storm” for women: barriers are breaking for women. We are now able to do every role and are allowed to aspire to fill every position across industries. Additionally, women now have access to increased support from their families and society, which are enabling them to pursue careers more freely than ever before.

Looking ahead, the way to make lasting change requires both a top-down and a bottom-up approach. When the military changes its policies, when the entertainment industry decreases the salary gap, when women run for president and a woman is elected Vice President, it sends a message to future generations that powerful, driven, accomplished women are the norm and that anything is possible regardless of gender. For those that enter the workforce after glass ceilings have been shattered, it will be easier. Then the ratios will start to even, once male-dominated industries will see a gender balance among employees, and female leaders will become more prevalent and more accepted by society.

There are so many inspiring women in prominent and major roles across industries, sectors and roles that I would be thrilled to speak with. Every opportunity I have to interact with executives, I’m honored! If I could wish for a private breakfast or lunch with anyone, I would dream of sitting down with Billie Jean King. I hope she’s reading this interview. She not only changed the world of tennis, but her activism and leadership created a butterfly effect that opened doors for women in many other sports and business areas. She was (and is) a trailblazer, achieving progress with every hard-earned step she took. If not lunch, maybe Billie would take me up on a match?

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

Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Gaby Koren of Glassbox On The Five Things You… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Christina Pack of Resurgens Postpartum On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will…

Women In Wellness: Christina Pack of Resurgens Postpartum On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

It never hurts to ask. Because, the answer is always no unless you ask. I’ve gotten so many clients through referrals just by asking people if they had someone to refer to me. I’ve hosted events in spaces for free just because I asked if I could. I mean sure, I’ve gotten plenty of no’s along the way, but asking is free and it never hurts!

As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Christina Pack of Resurgens Postpartum.

Christina is a Mom Coach in Atlanta who specializes in working with pregnant and postpartum moms to help them feel confident as they transition into motherhood. She connects moms to resources they need around the city, educates them on what to expect postpartum and how to navigate the fourth trimester (both from a baby care and self-care standpoint), and provides coaching as moms explore their identity in motherhood. Christina desires for all moms to feel empowered and confident so that they can experience a life in balance with their kids.

<a href="https://medium.com/media/984ca8ee180ecd718e99909d18352195/href">https://medium.com/media/984ca8ee180ecd718e99909d18352195/href</a>

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?

I actually came to this work because of what I observed was missing when I had my own children. When I had my first son I had a really hard time. I had a tough time recovering physically, establishing boundaries with friends and family, and learning to care for him. I felt very lost and was headed to a kind of dark place if I’m honest. I realized that my experience was pretty common, but moms just don’t talk about it. I also learned that there really aren’t enough supports for new moms, especially those who don’t have family close by to help.

When I had my second I felt much more equipped to manage and the experience was so much better. It made me realize how hard a time I had with my first and I knew I had to figure out a way to support moms so they wouldn’t experience what I did the first time around.

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?

I think this might be less of a story and more of an experience, but we’ll go with it! As I’ve been networking and getting to know other providers in the area, I’ve been slowly realizing that the huge city I live in is actually quite small when you think about the circles you run in. I’ve made connections with people that seemed to be complete strangers, but I realized that we have all of these friends in common from various other parts of our lives — whether it’s the gym, church, or previous careers! I am learning that putting myself out there, reaching out to people and sharing what I do with them, is way less scary than I expected, even for an introvert like me! When you are passionate about something, like I am about moms being prepared for postpartum and getting better postpartum support, it’s easy to talk to people about your passion. And typically, when people you are with see your passion and can feel it, they get excited about it too!

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first started on this path I thought I’d be able to fill my client load really quickly.

I launched my business in April of 2022. When I first started I had a ton of optimism and thought that clients would just kind of appear and that everyone would want to sign with me. Because of that I stepped back and reduced my hours from the job I was working in education at the time. I truly had no idea what it meant to build a brand from scratch and get my name out there. I definitely thought if I created a website, the clients would come. Ha! The optimism in that was great, but it was far from what I experienced.

I realized I had to shift my mindset to instead focus on networking and making connections with like-minded providers to get my name out there. That has been my biggest lesson probably, to build a business you don’t get to start off right away doing what you love — in my case supporting pregnant and new moms. You have to start by learning accounting and marketing and how to network. I didn’t learn any of that in college with my Elementary Education degree. It truly is a grind to start a business. I knew that, but I thought I’d be the exception somehow.

But, I’ve honestly learned so much about myself and the grit I have. There have been some hard days and weeks, but I am still grinding and big things are happening!

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?

As a Mom Coach, I focus on mostly pregnant and postpartum women. My desire is that every new mom feels prepared and confident before she gives birth so that she can heal and recover knowing that she is capable and has the support system she needs to care for her baby.

In that, I help moms prepare by thinking through four areas that I’ve noticed are pain points for new moms — preparing their mind, body, home, and support system. So many moms prepare the perfect Instagram-worth nursery, or take a birthing class and think they’re set. They forget that having a baby is more than the fun baby showers and labor and delivery. In order to be well-prepared to have a baby you need to prepare for the life you’ve have once baby is here. I compare it to preparing for a wedding vs preparing for a marriage. The marriage is the rest of your life!

As I’ve worked with moms the key thing I can say is making the biggest impact, is the level of confidence and support they feel. When moms feel confident and supported and cared for, they can experience fewer instances of depression and anxiety, which is critical to a mom finding balance.

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.

I love this! I think that sometimes we don’t realize how much each individual thought we have and action we take can impact our overall well-being.

1-Set realistic expectations. When I work with new moms and couples as they prepare to bring home their baby, I love to give them an expectation reality check. It’s easy to expect maternity/paternity leave to be a bit of a vacation. Parents think they’ll have so much time to do fun things. Honestly, you will have more time in some ways, but also your time will be dictated by a tiny human that doesn’t speak English yet. So, I like to talk about expectations — how it will feel to operate on less sleep, how to support each other to get more sleep, how to live your life in 3-hour chunks since babies eat about every 3 hours. I find that laying it all out there helps new parents understand what they’re getting themselves into.

2-Intentionally Move your body every day! You probably hear this a lot. I feel like it is important to name, especially with the population I serve, that moving your body doesn’t have to be an intense, hour-long workout. It doesn’t have to be much more than 5–10 minutes if that’s all you can give to it. And moving your body intentionally can be a rather still activity if it needs to be. I tell mamas to try to stick to the 5–5–5 rule. So, after delivery, that’s 5 days in bed, 5 days on the bed, and 5 days near the bed. That’s two weeks of mostly staying home, resting, and recovering. But, I also do CrossFit and work with a lot of moms who are athletes, so I recognize how hard that rule can be. You can STILL move intentionally while following that rule. Deep belly breathing is intentional movement. Slow stretching is intentional movement. A walk to the stop sign and back is intentional movement. We put so much pressure on ourselves to do an “all or nothing” approach, when something is always better than nothing!

3-Embrace where you are. By that, I don’t necessarily mean the physical place you are, like your home or whatever. I mean embrace where you are on your journey in life. Social Media is such a mind-trick. It can make you feel like you should be further along than you are and that’s just ridiculous. You have no idea what is going on on the other side of that camera. Instead, embrace your current phase. For me, that’s embracing that I’m in the early stage of starting my business. When I compare my beginning to someone else’s middle, of course I’ll feel like I don’t measure up. But when I embrace where I am and look how far I’ve come, I can find contentment and joy in the process.

4-Drink A Lot of Water. I can’t tell you how many people I know who don’t get enough water in daily. You’re supposed to drink half of your body weight in ounces daily (ex: 120lb person should drink at least 60oz a day). It’s definitely a task you have to spend time thinking about to accomplish. But, being well hydrated will help all of your systems work better. It improves skin, focus, alertness, bowel movements, the list goes on! Drink your water, y’all!

5-Try Softer. Y’all, when things get tough, it is so easy to be hard on ourselves. “I should’ve tried harder.” “I should’ve worked harder.” I’m here to tell you, try softer! Instead of beating yourself up when things go wrong or when things get hard, how about being gentle with yourself. Allow yourself the grace you wish others would give you. Chances are if you made a mistake, it wasn’t so big that it can’t be fixed. You deserve a soft spot to land when things get tough, and if you don’t have that, BE that for yourself!

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, well, I immerse myself in the pregnancy and postpartum space, so I would definitely lean in there. I think my movement would be, well, intentional, well-planned leave. The first thing that comes to mind, naturally, is maternity leave. But it doesn’t just have to be that, since lots of people take leaves from work at various stages of their life. I think the challenge is that when we take a leave from work, we tend to go into it without a plan. This can honestly make the leave less enjoyable. For moms, when they aren’t prepared and planned, they can spiral into a dark place. But for others, when they don’t plan how to spend their leave, they may slip into some bad habits that don’t benefit them and actually counteract the break they’re getting from the daily grind of life.

I believe that if we plan for and prepare for any season of life, really, that we can find joy, be balanced, and have contentment.

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

https://youtu.be/JmWoC94I3Hg

It never hurts to ask. Because, the answer is always no unless you ask. I’ve gotten so many clients through referrals just by asking people if they had someone to refer to me. I’ve hosted events in spaces for free just because I asked if I could. I mean sure, I’ve gotten plenty of no’s along the way, but asking is free and it never hurts!
On your hardest days, remember your why. When you start something new, you’ll have hard days. It’s a given. It’s easy to let those hard days defeat you. But, instead, if you focus on your why, you will keep your passion burning. That is critical to combat feelings of inadequacy and doubt.
Find your cheerleaders. We aren’t meant to do things alone. Humans were designed for community. Starting a business is lonely. You have to build your community of cheerleaders so that you have people to celebrate with, cry to, and navigate the uncharted waters with.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. No really, they don’t matter. I spend months focused on creating the perfect logo, the perfect website, the perfect mission and vision statement. They matter, but they’re not set in stone. They can be changed. Honestly, just start, let it be messy, grow through it, and come out on the other side stronger!
You can build a business without an office. I thought I had to have the perfect home office to be a legit business owner. But, here I am, sitting on my couch, running a business. You don’t need as much as you think to make it happen!

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

For me personally, mental health is HUGE! Maternal Mental Health Disorders are so prevalent in developed countries because we don’t support one another the way people in less developed countries do. Building that support network is crucial to combat these challenges. And, honestly, being open and honest about our struggles. There is so much help out there if we are just willing to be vulnerable about our challenges.

What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?

Check out my website www.resurgenspostpartum.com. I post weekly blogs and also have an email list you can sign up for there. You can follow me on Instagram @resurgens_postpartum. There you’ll find pregnancy and motherhood tips, self-care strategies, and so much more!

Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.

Women In Wellness: Christina Pack of Resurgens Postpartum 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.

Angela Bradford On How To Thrive Despite Experiencing Impostor Syndrome

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

The first step that comes to mind is taking the first step. An example of this was when I went to my first high ticket priced event. Even though the price made me feel totally unsure of myself, I still signed up. I didn’t let my fear stop me from taking action. Lots of times we can let our fear stop us, and we can never get through impostor syndrome, or anything else, so exciting! without taking the steps needed to conquer it.

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

Angela is a Senior Marketing Director with World Financial Group. Within just over six years of transitioning from the blue collar world of trucking and training horses, to the white collar world of finances and training people, she has opened multiple offices and started expansion into two countries. She has an amazing team working with her and has the goal of having a licensed agent in every state and province in North America in the next 5 years.

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

Thank you for having me! I came from a great family who homeschooled me and for that I am very grateful. We were also a very strict family. I grew up with lots of rules which I didn’t like. I left home as soon therefore as I turned 18 and ventured out on my own.

Horses and driving became my passion quickly and took me to different continents, states and provinces, over the course of the next 14–15 years. From there I was introduced to the financial industry and felt led to follow that change in career path. I have been running my own brokerage for about 6 years now.

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

I am sure there are lots of interesting stories but the one that I am thinking of right now was when I would get the same person’s number while out prospecting again and again. I wouldn’t remember that I had met them the week or month or whenever before and would say the same thing and get the number again. I always wondered when they didn’t remember me either if I needed to make a bigger impact!

My memory is something I am working on, but the positive part about it is that I also don’t recall “rejection” like many do, because I forget what happened!

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

I believe our company stands out because we are a brokerage. What that means is we aren’t restricted to one company or product, but instead can shop the market for the best option for our client. I’ve had clients come in that have been declined proper protection for their families from various other institutions, and I’ve been able to get them covered because I can find companies that will work with them.

It’s a fulfilling feeling to find the best option for people when they think they have no options.

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?

There are so many people who have helped shape my life. The couple that introduced me to my business stand out right now. Adam and Savannah Dawe are two of the most genuine and hardworking people I know. They care immensely for their agency and their family.

They took me in as a truck driver who didn’t show a lot of promise and were definitely instrumental in transforming me into the person I am today. Not everyone would have the patience or understanding to work with someone like me when I started in the financial industry.

I am very grateful for their leadership and also for so many others who have helped me along the journey.

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

I would define impostor syndrome as a feeling of not belonging in a certain group of people. It’s a feeling of not being good enough. It’s a feeling of not fitting in. An easy way to describe it would be wanting to be in an exclusive club but not being able to get in because of how you think about the club.

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

I believe impostor syndrome can limit people from reaching their full potential. One of the biggest tips of growth is to be around associations that help us grow, but if we feel inadequate, we will not put ourselves in those uncomfortable situations, yet this is exactly where we can expand and grow into our full potential.

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

I will speak from personal experience: when I feel impostor syndrome, I am not my usual friendly self. I go “into” myself and become very self-conscious. When you’re self-conscious you can’t be other-conscious. In other words, I am not as free to help others as I would be when I am not experiencing impostor syndrome.

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

I would be happy to share my experience! I signed up for an event called The Exchange with John Maxwell. It’s a higher end event, and going into it I didn’t feel that I was worthy to be there. I remember the first day signing up for my name tag and then sitting down by myself, feeling very nervous.

Then someone came and sat beside me and started talking to me. Her name was Debbie Bolton, and she’s one of the nicest ladies I have met. She didn’t make me feel less than anyone there. That three day event was like that the whole time. After that experience, I have been able to walk into rooms with people very much more successful than me, on lots of different levels, and not feel like I don’t belong.

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

For the most part I have been able to shake the feeling. There are times I still feel impostor syndrome, and I take a step back and realize it’s because I’m looking at myself instead of caring about others. The more I care about others, the less I think about myself.

A couple things that I have done to mitigate imposter syndrome is to continue to push myself into environments where I might feel it. The more I feel this syndrome and work through the feeling, the less it impacts me. The other thing I do is as I said above is think about others instead of myself. “Others” focus has helped me immensely.

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

The first step that comes to mind is taking the first step. An example of this was when I went to my first high ticket priced event. Even though the price made me feel totally unsure of myself, I still signed up. I didn’t let my fear stop me from taking action. Lots of times we can let our fear stop us, and we can never get through impostor syndrome, or anything else, so exciting! without taking the steps needed to conquer it.

The second thing that comes to mind, is being honest about how you feel. It’s easy to say you aren’t experiencing imposter syndrome, but if you can’t admit it even to yourself you will never conquer it. I told people that I felt like an impostor going to these events with people that were making 10 times plus my income. The more I talked about it the less power it held over me.

The third step that comes to mind is to continue to put yourself in places where you feel imposter syndrome. In other words, keep stretching yourself and allowing yourself to be uncomfortable. In discomfort is where one can find comfort. After I went to the first event, I kept registering for other events that were similar. After a while they started to feel familiar, and then not only was I able to “level up” my thoughts, but actually my whole life started to level-up to the new circle that surrounded me.

Fourth thing that comes to mind, would be helping others when you feel this way. When we start to help others, we take our mind off of ourselves. I would make calls and tell people how amazing they were and how they deserve to be at these events, and would help them register, and that would make me feel like I deserved to be there also.

The fifth and final step in my mind would be to enjoy the feeling of “leveling up.” As you move forward, things that made you feel like an impostor no longer will. Then you have to find new things that cause you to level up. For me I signed up to go skydiving, and I’m running a podcast. I am doing little things that make me feel uncomfortable and discovering comfort in the uncomfortable. Life seems to just get better this way!

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

The movement I am working toward is empowering women to become their amazing selves and help change the world. I want to encourage and inspire women to rise up and use their voices to make the impact in the world for good that I know we can make together

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

I would love to have lunch with Oprah Winfrey. I feel she is genuine and real and is making a difference in lives of women and men everywhere. I would love to learn from her and see where I can also help more people.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

The easiest place to find me is Instagram at @realangelabradford as well as I also have a podcast called “One Starfish with Angela Bradford”. I look forward to connecting!

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

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

Women Of The C-Suite: Dianne Whitfield of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals On The Five Things You Need To…

Women Of The C-Suite: Dianne Whitfield of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

You don’t need to know the answer, you just need to ask the right questions. A mentor recently shared this with me, and it rings true in so many ways, especially in my current role when you oversee a broad set of responsibilities. Having curiosity to ensure your team is thinking about things in the right way, and sometimes challenging convention, is critical at this stage.

As a part of our interview series called “Women Of The C-Suite”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Dianne Whitfield.

Dianne boasts 20+ years of experience in human resources, including over a decade in life sciences industry management and leadership. She joined Tarsus in early 2021 as Chief Human Resources Officer, where she has been instrumental in designing and executing a talent strategy that drives the business during a period of critical growth. Prior to Tarsus, Dianne was Vice President and Head of Human Resources at Evolus, where she was instrumental in helping the company launch their first product and built a culture that drove employee engagement and retention.

My career in human resources (HR) was an early pivot that occurred when I was in the process of pursuing a master’s degree in social work. I always had a desire to help people and be a part of shaping and promoting positive change in individuals, teams, and communities. The education and experience I derived from social work translated nicely to the business environment — particularly as an HR professional — as it allowed me to positively impact employees and leadership to create an environment where both employees and organizations can thrive.

I’ve spent more than 20 years across several roles in the HR function, with the last 15 years assuming various leadership roles in the biotech industry. Working in life sciences has been particularly meaningful because the core of our work as an organization is focused on bringing new and important therapies and treatments to patients in need. Being a part of this industry is especially rewarding because it not only allows me to help build, develop, and grow organizations, but it also provides the opportunity to have a greater impact.

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

During my very first conversation with the Tarsus CEO, Bobby Azamian, we discussed the critical role that culture plays in shaping and defining an organization. We quickly aligned on our belief that innovative science and novel products were not enough for the success we hope to achieve — the best organizations that stand out and attract and retain talent also require strong leadership and an exceptional team of talented individuals that are fueled by a differentiated culture. We envisioned an environment where employees could do their best work by being empowered to voice diverse perspectives, foster teamwork, and bring their whole selves to work. Today, after nearly 2 years serving on the leadership team at Tarsus, the company has grown by 400%, and we have received numerous recognitions and accolades honoring our culture, company, and leadership team. I think this is a result of all the hard work we’ve collectively done as a team to create an optimal environment for employees and I’m proud of how far we’ve come to further our mission of helping patients in need.

I’ve made numerous mistakes throughout my career, but they’ve all been tremendous learning experiences. And sometimes I’ve learned that those “mistakes” are really just misconceptions.

In the early days of my career, I worked with global teams across multiple time zones, and spent many hours on early morning calls. One morning, my (then) two-year-old son threw a tantrum, which was all captured on my video call. While this was embarrassing in the moment for me (although age appropriate for him), the compassion and understanding my colleagues showed built a connection that strengthened our relationship. This experience taught me that sometimes we need self-compassion.

One of the things we all learned from the pandemic is that everyone is a human first, and an employee second. Leading HR during this time was an opportunity to lead by example and normalize the challenges and sometimes unexpected activities happening at home. Even though a large majority of us are now spending more time back in the office, I still approach employee relationships with this same mindset.

I’m grateful to have had many former managers and HR leaders who’ve served as mentors and helped me learn and grow throughout my career. One former HR leader and colleague provided me with a tremendous amount of encouragement and support, challenging me to think differently and to be confident in my leadership capabilities. She was a significant role model in demonstrating the value that HR can play in helping to set and drive a business strategy and showed me how important it is for HR to have a seat at the decision-making table. I still consider her a mentor and friend, and regularly connect with her for thought partnership. These are the relationships that become most valuable over time and serve as a good reminder of the importance of fostering others in their career growth.

Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader?

A significant part of my role as an HR leader is to make hard decisions that impact the organization and its people. A recent key learning for me was surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. At the peak of the shut-down, we were tasked with trying to run a successful business while also prioritizing the health and safety of our employees. We often have to make decisions that we believe will most effectively meet everyone’s needs, even when we know that the decision may not fit all individual preferences. In this example — we were able to strike a balance and allow employees more flexibility to work remote. Today, we’ve continued this approach and have a flexible hybrid model, which we feel strikes a nice balance for employees.

Executives must look beyond their own areas of expertise and the specific role or function they were hired to do and think about the goals and objectives of the broader organization. In my role today, I serve as an enterprise leader, rather than just the head of my HR function. The role of an executive, first and foremost, is about leadership. Leadership is critical to setting an organization’s communication strategy and helping set up teams and the broader organization for long-term success.

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

While an increasing number of women are starting to have a seat at the executive table, we still have a long way to go — the fact remains that less than half of executive teams are comprised of females, even though organizations deliver 34% greater returns to investors with more women in senior management positions. As a female executive, it’s important to acknowledge that you may often be the minority in a room, but that your voice and contributions are valuable to the organization’s success. We know that organizations that are more diverse have greater financial and revenue success, so it’s important that we recognize the value we can create and serve as role models to emerging women leaders to encourage their growth and advancement.

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

I’m so passionate about my role, and that I continue to learn and grow even at my level. The biggest difference about my job today and the job on paper is how much fun it is! As an executive, you earn the role through a strong track record and history of demonstrating experience, capabilities, and skillset. Since joining Tarsus, I’ve not only had the opportunity to leverage my experience and integrate into a team of extremely diverse, qualified, and dynamic individuals, but I’ve also been able to lead the organization by role modelling what it means to bring your “whole self to work.” This authenticity is part of the diversity that I bring to my role as a female in leadership, and it also allows me to show up in a way that fosters greater well-being, and therefore, energy and greater impact!

A successful executive has the right mindset, motivation, and passion to get the job done — not just for your own achievement, but more importantly, for the organization and employees you lead. To do this successfully, executive leadership requires emotional intelligence and the ability to communicate with all levels and across the enterprise effectively to build relationships and connect with employees. It’s not simply a matter of mastering your craft — it requires skills beyond your technical area to best serve the organization’s goals.

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

You don’t need to know the answer, you just need to ask the right questions. A mentor recently shared this with me, and it rings true in so many ways, especially in my current role when you oversee a broad set of responsibilities. Having curiosity to ensure your team is thinking about things in the right way, and sometimes challenging convention, is critical at this stage.

Always say yes to opportunities. This is something I was told earlier in my career, and I’ve had some great career pivots and advancements — sometimes for a role or assignment I didn’t think I wanted but turned out to be an amazing experience and always led to growth.

If you don’t prioritize your time, someone else will. This holds true every day. It’s ok to say no to things to ensure you are focused on the most important tasks that need to be completed.

If you are not nervous or afraid, you are not being challenged. The best growth experiences for me have been in situations that have probably caused the most anxiety. I’ve learned to embrace the fear as an opportunity to be challenged and to grow. And it’s paid off! Those risks have yielded the greatest rewards both personally and professionally.

Make sure you always stay true to your “why.” I’ve also turned down opportunities and left roles where it ultimately conflicted with my purpose. Sometimes this was a job that didn’t allow the work/life balance to prioritize my family, and that’s ok.

I’m so fortunate that my current role at Tarsus allows me to do this — to create a culture of dynamic Tarsans who are passionate about our mission to revolutionize treatment for patients. A culture based on teamwork, diversity, and empowerment. I’m truly focused on making Tarsus a “dream job” for employees.

If I had my pick across the world — it would be my husband, Oscar. We both lead successful careers while raising our family. If there’s one thing my career has taught me, is that prioritizing the most important things is what matters. Being able to spend quality time with my husband and family is honestly the best time well spent, and I choose to put that first, every time.

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

Women Of The C-Suite: Dianne Whitfield of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals On The Five Things You Need To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Paola Zamudio of npz studio+: 5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

It starts with the basics: a clean slate with great lighting. Deep clean and start with the space’s bare bones, then decide on light. Whether it is a beautiful lamp, a moody candle, or natural sunlight, lighting is essential for a joyful space.

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 Paola Zamudio.

Founded in 2014, npz studio+ began as a New York-based interior design firm and evolved into an award-winning creative agency, engaging in branding, art direction, graphic design, social media, and event planning with clients across the United States. Owned by Paola Zamudio, npz studio+ is well-known for the creative direction and interior design work behind the world-renowned project, Bell Works. Paola is a leader and rule-breaker in the historically hierarchical design industry, where she is on a mission to coach like-minded creatives.

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 Paola Zamudio, a designer and entrepreneur. I own a creative agency, npz studio+. From a young age, I was surrounded by creative processes. Growing up with my mom in Colombia, I spent a lot of time watching her design, create, and educate other people in her design studio. It was my first source of inspiration and what drove my interest in entrepreneurship!

From that point on, I had a curious mind and artistic soul that has brought me to travel the world and try different mediums to express my creativity. I have called NYC my home now for over 10 years, and here I surround myself with art, design, and culture. I have always loved the simple, but luxurious things in life. This has all helped shape my persona and business. I have always been inclined to create beautiful spaces that bring people together. That is what npz studio+ is about now.

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

Since the beginning of my career, I put myself into situations that would immerse myself into the design world. I would attend special events, award ceremonies, and industry happenings just to observe. Even though I was admiring from the outside, I would just go to places with design involvement to see what exactly it was that these successful leaders in design are doing, and how they are doing it, because I wanted to do it one day. As I sat at these events curious and excited to learn, I always thought to myself, ‘If I got paid, that would be a plus.’ My passion was so strong, but I would do it for free. Looking retrospectively, I started manifesting something that was a dream into my reality.

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?

Thinking I had to know it all! You’re always told, “fake it until you make it.” But for me, I learned that the best thing to do is learn along the way! I make mistakes, laugh, and move on. It is all a part of the process! With this mentality, I ended up taking each experience as a lesson, and they ended up being the most beautiful “mistakes” because they shaped who I am today.

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

Bell Works has been my milestone project as a designer and as a person. I helped bring a vision to life, what better result than that?! The project is ever-developing, and has proven the importance of human-centric design. More than just the design, I have created a community where people make serendipitous connections daily. Whether those connections are minute or life-changing for the person, I feel empowered knowing that my craft was a catalyst for these interactions. The inclusivity and diversity is beautiful to see.

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

A quote that I live by is: “ego is not your amigo.” When you have ego, you lose the sense of reality and start thinking with a different mentality. You have to always remember where you started and be grateful for the journey. If you want to continue growing, creating, and thriving you have to be open to various ideas and perspectives to learn from and flourish. Every moment, project, team member, and experience I have had helps me stay grounded. Despite the awards and features I receive; I am still that same dreamer (Paola) at the end of the day.

My mom. From when I was young, she pushed me to be my best, educate myself, stay curious, and always encouraged creativity. It put me on the path to success, kept me highly motivated and never satisfied. She continues to push me to be the best version of myself professionally, personally, and mentally.

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.

It starts with the basics: a clean slate with great lighting. Deep clean and start with the space’s bare bones, then decide on light. Whether it is a beautiful lamp, a moody candle, or natural sunlight, lighting is essential for a joyful space.
Color! Bringing colors that speak to you. For me, I love warm colors — perhaps it’s my Latin roots! Everything in your space should give you a feeling. Start with your core colors to settle on a palette, and layer from there. Trust your gut!
Think of the materials that you like to surround yourself with and establish them throughout your spaces. I love contrasting materials. For example, my go-to solid is concrete, then adding a cozy element like tweed and a warm wood to bring an organic feel.
Next up are plants for both health and aesthetic reasons. They bring freshness and good energy to any space. Their air-cleaning and mood-boosting properties are just the start! My tried and true are Bird of Paradise and Fiddle Leaf Fig!
The final touches should be meaningful objects! Think about the pieces that you collect from travels, books that interest you and images that inspire you. Only you can curate your space to reflect what you like.

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. 🙂

As a commercial designer, I do my best to only create spaces with the goal of making people feel good. If I could start a movement, it would be to design for mental health and inclusivity. We spend so much time at work, why not make it comfortable for our bodies and minds? I believe that today’s transparent generation entering the workforce will be a movement alone, so as a Trend Forecaster myself, I believe that the design industry should understand the importance of mental health and inclusivity and shift their design perspectives to reflect this. Your health is your wealth!

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 🙂

This year has been an awakening for me on many levels, one of them is spirituality. It has become very important for me to focus on my life, in addition to my career. Someone who has helped me from afar is Deepak Chopra. His podcasts and talks have helped me shift my perspective and attitude towards all aspects of my life, as well as adding meditation as a daily routine in my household (yes, my two dogs join me every morning). I would love to have breakfast with him to talk about synchrodestiny and share how he has helped align my mind, body, and soul.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

IG: @npz_studio www.instagram.com/npz_studio/

LI: www.linkedin.com/company/npz-studio/

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

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

Female Founders: Vanessa Gordon of East End Taste On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed

Female Founders: Vanessa Gordon of East End Taste On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Set boundaries right away. As a business owner and founder, you have full control over your working experience; therefore, boundaries must be in place first and foremost. Always ensure your channels of communication are in writing. Contracts should always be reviewed by a legal team in advance and each contract must be thorough. Expectations, budgets, rates, services offered, and more should always be clearly layed out and written. I have invested in hiring a team to help create these contracts and terms. I strongly recommend any founder and business owner do the same. Lastly, I make sure these contracts and terms are updated annually.

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

Vanessa Gordon is the CEO and Publisher of East End Taste, a digital sustainable travel and food publication based in the Hamptons and in the UK. She is also the Founder of the annual summer event, the Hamptons Interactive Brunch. She lives in the Hamptons with her family.

I began my company initially as a passion project, or quite simply out of a sincere love for writing. East End Taste grew from humble beginnings as a personal blog documenting my experiences as I became reacquainted with where I grew up on the eastern end of Long Island (the Hamptons). At the time it had been two years since I graduated from NYU Steinhardt School of Education and I was raising my infant daughter. I had stopped teaching English as a Second Language full-time to dedicate my time to being a new mom. It was then that I started East End Taste to keep my mind active and to help me stay on track with writing without having to juggle time sensitive articles or deadlines.

I eventually became self-taught with the skills needed to eventually transition my blog into a business. East End Taste has now expanded to what is now a digital media and marketing company with an ever-growing international presence.

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

Most recently, my web team and I are heavily focused on creating more video content, with a goal for 2023 to increase our video content by 75%. Much of the video content will be for social media, targeting LinkedIn and Instagram. I am also focused on continuing to build my personal brand as a leading Hamptons lifestyle expert; therefore, much of the video content we will be producing will also include b-roll for my personal website and my event’s website (the Hamptons Interactive Brunch) that I am in the process of updating and will unveil in the spring of 2023. As someone who is most comfortable working behind the scenes as a writer, this change has me leaping full force out of my comfort zone. I am very excited about this new venture!

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?

During the summer months in the Hamptons, I attend on average between 3–4 events per day on the weekends and between 15–20 events per month. With running about and getting ready in between each function, there is always a considerable probability for a fashion mishap. After everything from my children hugging me with tomato sauce on their fingers and rubbing it on my white trousers to forgetting to bring my flats to ease my aching feet, I have finally created a checklist for what to always have on hand during event season.

I now keep a selection of the following in my vehicle at all times during event season in the Hamptons: comb, hairspray, ballet flats, trousers, an extra blouse, little black dress, and eyeglasses in case a contact lense falls out or gets damaged.

I am grateful to so many individuals that are a part of my life. In addition to members of my immediate family and longtime friends, one person who comes to mind is my friend and mentor, Patrice. We met through our mutual friend, Jonathan in early 2020 and Patrice has been a significant proponent on helping to propel me and my ideas into fruition. We speak on the phone biweekly and she always takes the time to guide me in the right direction and help to organize the constant flow of ideas that are always brewing in my mind. If it were not for Patrice, I probably would not have taken the leap to create a significant overall expansion within my business in 2021 as well as focus on my own PR plan.

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 instantly think back to my recent trip to Egypt where I relearned the history of female pharoahs and roles of women in ancient Egypt. In ancient Egypt, women were equal amongst men. Even in typical male-dominated roles, women in upper class societies received equal pay, were able to buy and sell land, and receive an education.

In today’s times, still there is much to be done when it comes to paving the way for women to have not only equal rights but equal opportunities. The roles of women in the work force have only started to shift signifcantly in the past 50 years. Remember, it has only been 102 years since women in America were guaranteed the right to vote! We as a society need to continue down this strong and steady pathway in support of women. It is essential as we continue to work to empower women and encourage more opportunities for leadership roles.

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?

Provide more accessible resources for female founders. Some examples may include more local support/networking groups, social circles, and the like. Giving more women an opportunity to voice their ideas and concerns is so critical to creating this path for success.

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?

As a founder, CEO and owner of my business, I have not only the freedom but capability of coordinating my own work schedule from home while balancing home and family life. Sometimes, family life brings greater and much more responsibilities, and I am able to choose to focus on my children and their needs. For instance, the summer months are my busiest for local events and happenings, and the fall and winter months are busiest for international travel.

I feel so empowered knowing that I have full control over my schedule and the workload I choose to take on. Starting my own business was one of if not the best decisions I ever made for myself.

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

The biggest myth that comes to mind right away is that we have it easier than anyone else. As a founder, as opposed to other positions I have held in my life thus far (fitness trainer and English as a second language instructor), my job is tremendously more challenging. Not only do I have to maintain my expertise within my specific field as a Publisher, I also have to have a basic to intermediate understanding and skill in all other departments within my media company. IT/tech, marketing, accounting, web development, etc. I need to understand these jobs and also have to manage each department, respectively. With this being said, I enjoy every aspect of what I do, and relay that notion on a regular basis. What it all comes down to is loving what you do, and that ultimately molds how successful you are as a founder.

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?

Everyone is certainly capable or has the potential to be a founder. Will everyone be a successful founder? Not necessarily. Success is determined by resilience, determination, dedication, and passion, among many other factors. Support from those around you is also crucial but it is up to you and you alone how successful you are. Remember, success has so many layers and can be very personal.

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.)

1. Set boundaries right away. As a business owner and founder, you have full control over your working experience; therefore, boundaries must be in place first and foremost. Always ensure your channels of communication are in writing. Contracts should always be reviewed by a legal team in advance and each contract must be thorough. Expectations, budgets, rates, services offered, and more should always be clearly layed out and written. I have invested in hiring a team to help create these contracts and terms. I strongly recommend any founder and business owner do the same. Lastly, I make sure these contracts and terms are updated annually.

2. Your business is not always a reflection of you, and vice versa. As I am also in the process of building my personal brand, I have created a clear separation between myself and my business in terms of branding and messaging. A clear example is I have built my own website highlighting my personal brand and services I offer that are separate of East End Taste. This may not be a goal for everyone, but as I prefer to not be the ‘face’ of my business, I am choosing to take more of a backseat role as my business continues to expand.

3. It is always acceptable to ask questions. I am still learning new skills and new methods on a daily basis. At first, I was always concerned about asking questions. As I have now overcome that fear, I now enjoy learning about everything from new apps and platforms to creative initiatives and research tactics. Techonology always continues to evolve and as a digital platform, we must continue to evolve with it.

4. Stay humble. Simple. Always be grateful, always be open to listening, and remember that there is always room for growth. Humility gives us that opportunity and desire to learn and it will keep you grounded.

5. There is always room for improvement and perfecting new skills. This also goes hand in hand with asking questions. Bettering our lives and continuing to learn and maintain curiousity is always a positive movement in the right direction. No matter how great things are around us, we can always make the world around us even better.

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

The work my team and I do through East End Taste and my media company’s event series, the Hamptons Interactive Brunch, have made signifcant strides to making the world a better place. We have and continue to support several local nonprofit groups and initiatives including The Retreat, a local women’s shelter, as well as the Children’s Museum of the East End that has done so much to support moms and families on the East End of Long Island. Any way my business and I can help, we are always welcome to extend that support.

What I love most about being a CEO and (female) founder is that I continue to inspire others around me to be their best selves and strive for greater independence and self-worth. I always love hearing from our East End Taste readers and those close around me, especially when they express that we have inspired them to pursue a specific passion project, travel or simply pursue an enterprise that means a great deal to them.

I would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with Dolly Parton. I have been seeing her name in the news often in these recent months and have always admired her outstanding efforts outside her music career. I love how she created her charity, Imagination Library, which encourages literacy and mails free books to children. For instance, I am a tremendous advocate for the Little Free Library and many other initiatives to encourage people to read more. I would love to discuss this and more with Ms. Parton.

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

Thank you for this opportunity!

Female Founders: Vanessa Gordon of East End Taste On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Dena Prastos of Indigo River On The Five Things…

Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Dena Prastos of Indigo River On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Develop Thick Skin. Don’t take “it” personally. Remember, how people treat you reflects them, not you.

I’ve been inappropriately spoken to, even yelled at, in professional work settings multiple times in my career. The first time it happened was in a field trailer on a construction site. I was so shaken that I didn’t want to return to work. It took me time to understand that I hadn’t done anything to warrant the treatment I received. Some professionals, often in management, don’t know the best way to express themselves. You cannot take it personally.

In the United States in 2022, fields such as Aircraft piloting, Agriculture, Architecture, Construction, Finance, and Information technology, are still male-dominated industries. For a woman who is working in a male-dominated environment, what exactly does it take to thrive and succeed? In this interview series we are talking to successful women who work in a Male-Dominated Industry who can share their stories and experiences about navigating work and life as a strong woman in a male-dominated industry.

As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Dena Prastos, AIA

As Founder and CEO of Indigo River, Dena Prastos, AIA, is the first “waterfront architect,” trailblazing a new category in the industry. Indigo River is a women-owned transdisciplinary design firm focused on progressive waterfront architecture, resiliency, and climate adaptation. A leading authority in New York Harbor and beyond, the firm specializes in climate adaptation through waterfront solutions that seamlessly transcend boundaries — guiding and executing projects from ideation through final construction and operations.

Waterfront architect, civil engineer, futurist, climate adaptation expert, entrepreneur, and creative original Dena is driven to transform the built world at the water’s edge. With transdisciplinary and progressive views, she is fueled by the overlapping of design, technology, and nature.

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 grew up in the Great state of Alaska, which naturally gave way to my adventurous and exploratory spirit. Yes, the winters are long, dark, and cold. However, the Northern Lights are magical, and the summers are unparalleled in beauty. As kids, it was common knowledge of how to escape a bear, roll out of quicksand, and duck and cover during earthquakes. My favorite place to be on Summer Solstice, June 21st, is in Alaska. I remember canoeing down the Yukon River with my dad for two weeks the summer I turned 14, and it was so hard to keep track of time because there was no traditional sunrise or sunset. Instead, in an otherworldly fashion, the sun circled the horizon over and over.

My early education had a particular uniqueness to it. My parents, who valued education above all else, enrolled me in an Optional Elementary School where students were encouraged to develop critical thinking and self-directed learning skills. Building on this approach, my middle school, Atheneum, taught the Socratic Seminar method. For example, I didn’t have a traditional geometry book; I learned geometry by way of Euclid through postulates and theorems. It was an environment where we were encouraged to connect the content to our own experiences and incorporate the joy of learning, reasoning, and original thinking everywhere in our lives. Next, I attended East Anchorage High School, the most diverse school in the U.S., where I was enrolled in a “School Within a School,” a cohesive learning community. Throughout my adolescent education, I was consistently empowered toward independent thinking, community involvement, and lifelong learning.

I have two brothers (Ari and Thanos), and I remember my dad reminding me throughout my childhood that there was nothing they could do mentally that I couldn’t do. So, when he would teach us things, whether tying a fishing knot or changing a flat tire, he would teach and test all of us. I also grew up with three boys next door (Trenton, Tyler, and Tanner), so our neighborhood crew consisted of five boys and me. It was a lot like the movie, “Little Giants”… I guess you could say I became comfortable being in male-dominated environments from a young age.

I was incredibly active; my parents left very little time for me to get into trouble. Before and after school on any given day, I might be at practice or rehearsal for any combination of soccer, tennis, violin, orchestra, symphony, theater, and tai chi. I was an All-State athlete in both soccer and tennis. I was also immersed in a rich Greek culture through music, food, religion, folk dance, and travel. And in the summers, the only television in our home was intentionally disconnected by my parents, forcing my brothers and me outside, often to the stream in our backyard. As a result, we learned to appreciate nature, the bounty it provides, and its absolute authority over everything. These experiences created an appreciation for nature, health, and wellness, as well as for art and culture that I continue to carry with me today.

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

When I finished my five-year undergraduate degree in architecture, I was intimidated by engineering and construction at large. However, I have always had a knack for seeing challenges as opportunities, and I enjoy pushing myself out of my comfort zone — that mentality has served me well in my career. I faced my lack of confidence head-on by getting a master’s degree in civil engineering. I intentionally began my career with a heavy, civil, self-perform contractor working on a design-build project. When I think back on that time, what I was experiencing was a fear of the unknown. I have learned you cannot reach your full potential by staying in your comfort zone. When I push myself to the edge of my limits, that is when I grow the most.

I have great admiration for nature, specifically for water bodies. I believe it is by nature that we can learn, advance, replicate, and scale our actions to address goals. It is by nature that we can prepare ourselves most responsibly for the future.

Being born and raised in Alaska, I deeply appreciate nature and humankind’s ability to design, build, and create infrastructure in some of the world’s harshest conditions.

I have developed a deep respect for the Alaskan Native cultures — and the people who have lived on and from this land for centuries, particularly the coastal communities.

Growing up with a stream in my backyard, I remember observing wildlife with endless curiosity.

I live on the Hudson River now and still find myself pacing the shoreline at low tide, observing critters and nature’s forces on built infrastructure. To experience the coastline as a living, breathing being before and after storms is humbling.

Living and working in the New York Metro area, it can be easy to miss “nature,” but anywhere there is water, sure enough, there is nature.

The waterfront is a dynamic zone. As a result, coastal regions have inherent vulnerabilities, repeatedly and constantly exposed to raw, often unpredictable natural forces while serving as nature’s infrastructure and humanity’s most natural infrastructure. So, it’s deserving of our specialized attention. And I have thoroughly enjoyed focusing my career on this typology.

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

My career allowed me to live and work abroad in the Middle East. An experience I would highly recommend for young professionals, especially architects, both personally and professionally. Being open to learning about new cultures expands and exercises creative muscles.

I left the industry entirely for a year to launch and operate a cooking school with my husband. To be in a completely different industry but experience firsthand how basic business principles transcend industry was a valuable experience.

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?

First, I genuinely believe everyone writes their own recipe for success. Each of us comes to the table with a different approach, skillset, and manner of execution. These are three that have helped me:

Intuition. My intuitive personality energizes my imagination, helping me develop creative strategies and motivating me to explore things deeply — whether it’s an intellectual pursuit, challenges at the office, or even a crazy scheme or thought experiment. I am driven to understand and create. I enjoy switching between speculative musing and tactical problem-solving. I am imaginative and open-minded and enjoy focusing on distant possibilities and what it takes to achieve them.

Initiative. Being a leader is hard if you’re waiting to be told what to do. Taking initiative is a form of self-empowerment — a skill and lifestyle I have been encouraged to explore since primary school. Before I launched Indigo River, I spent a lot of time reflecting on what was important to me and what was holding me back. In the same way that it is rare to meet a truly interesting person who has had an easy life, I have learned that no one gets handed a meaningful career — I had to take the initiative, work for it, and create it.

Integrity. What I do when no one is looking or asking. It’s the standard I hold myself to. It’s not something I show people necessarily; it’s how I behave behind the scenes. For example, when in doubt about something, I usually ask myself, “will this action reflect my values?” The answer becomes clear to me with this approach.

In one of my previous roles, I had given notice and was wrapping up and handing off responsibilities. On my last day, my manager called me into his office at noon and asked what I could possibly still be working on. I listed peripheral projects and initiatives I had been championing outside my normal billable responsibilities. Everything needed to be transitioned and not lost because of a ball I dropped. He finally sent me home several hours later. Several years later, that manager became my business partner — integrity matters.

OK, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Can you help articulate a few of the biggest obstacles or challenges you’ve had to overcome being in a male-dominated industry?

Not being heard. Being talked over. I cannot count the number of times I voice something, only to be spoken over or simply ignored and not heard. As if the frequency of my natural voice is not resonating. It is eye-opening how many times what I say is later repeated by a man and then met with a positive response — even celebrated. I’ve been met with wide eyes by fellow women in the room when this happens as if we’re in the Twilight Zone; ladies, we need to speak up and help each other overcome these offensive obstacles! We need to ask ourselves: “If not now, when? If not me, who?” My ability to adapt to these settings and quite literally change my voice by lowering its pitch has helped, but it shouldn’t be necessary.

When I worked in the Middle East, early in the project, I had a local team member, a subordinate, tell me he “wouldn’t take orders from a woman,” and specifically, that it was against his religion. It took me a moment to think about how to respond; while I wasn’t there to contest his religion or change a culture, I was there to get a job done. Thankfully, I had a supportive team from the U.S. that reinforced the chain of command, and we came to a resolution. I am an American, and I am proud to be an American Woman. But I am also a global citizen and respect that different cultures have different norms, which sometimes conflict. What transcends culture is developing a sense of TEAM and camaraderie while working together, aligned, toward a specific goal.

Not having access to female role models early in my career was an obstacle. It is one of the reasons publications like this and like Madame Architect are so valuable to diversity in the workforce. The media plays a role here, too; I am grateful for the movies I watched as a kid, like Father of the Bride, Mrs. Doubtfire, and One Fine Day, that depicted [fictional] women Architects. However, while I was fortunate to have identified various role models, I did not have direct access to women architects in leadership for most of my early career. For this reason, I always engage when I am approached by young women in the industry today who can relate and want to have a conversation.

Focus on the work itself and not who is doing the work.

I had a coach tell me early in my soccer career that he wasn’t coaching girls; he was coaching athletes. I’ve carried this mentality into my work: I’m an architect, an engineer, and a contractor.
The English language categorizes these nouns as common gender; why shouldn’t we?

I didn’t seek acceptance. Instead, I aimed for the quality of my work to stand on merit alone.

We all get a dopamine hit through external praise; however, I prefer to be successful in my work rather than being constantly validated.

Cultivate Confidence. The quickest way to acquire self-confidence is to do exactly what scares you. And often, it’s what others are afraid to do as well.

Much of my career has been focused on doing things outside my comfort zone. The funny thing is the more you do outside your comfort zone, the more comfortable it becomes.

What do you think male-oriented organizations can do to enhance their recruiting efforts to attract more women?

Encourage parents (especially fathers) to take parental leave. Demonstrate and recognize responsibilities outside of work and encourage both parents to be active. Partners must share equal responsibility in the workplace and the home to effect meaningful systemic change.

Promote deserving women into leadership positions and transparently acknowledge and recognize the value they contribute to the organization.

OK thank you for all of that. 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 In a Male-Dominated Industry?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

Develop Thick Skin. Don’t take “it” personally. Remember, how people treat you reflects them, not you.

I’ve been inappropriately spoken to, even yelled at, in professional work settings multiple times in my career. The first time it happened was in a field trailer on a construction site. I was so shaken that I didn’t want to return to work. It took me time to understand that I hadn’t done anything to warrant the treatment I received. Some professionals, often in management, don’t know the best way to express themselves. You cannot take it personally.

2. Good Company. No one thrives alone. Allies, mentors, and friends, sooner or later, you reflect the company you keep. Surround yourself with people who lift you higher. Make a concerted effort to support other women.

I have seen a direct correlation between the company I keep and the quality of my work. When I feel challenged and inspired, I become driven and motivated; that chemistry is contagious. You may have felt depleted if you have ever been on a team with a toxic source.

3. Find and use your voice. Know and say exactly what you want.

I once voiced my ambition to be at the executive level within five years, and the response was less than encouraging (to put it lightly). I realized that for every goal, there is a path; we must fervently advocate for ourselves to find and walk that path. In this case, I advocated for myself and did not hear a reasonable response, which told me enough to know my energy would be better invested elsewhere. Nobody will care more about your career than you.

4. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

While our work may be serious, we must give ourselves the grace to learn to fail — and to be okay with it. When we fail, we learn, and we grow. By taking this approach, I have permitted myself to be aimlessly curious and explore what that means to my career.

When my business partner, Shea Thorvaldsen, and I first got together to brainstorm ideas for Indigo River (and our sister company TMS Waterfront), we asked ourselves, “why are we doing this?” and “what do we want out of this?” A recurring theme was that we both wanted to have fun, enjoy our work, and enjoy the company of those with whom we work. There is no rule that good work comes from misery; quite the opposite, actually — many studies validate that happy people who care about their work perform better and are more productive. We have embraced this concept, and it has served us well.

Invest in yourself and invest in those around you. Seek to be worth knowing rather than be well known. Similarly, care about being respected more than being liked. Why would you expect your employer to invest in you if you are not investing in yourself?

When I was starting down the road toward becoming a licensed architect, I had no support from my manager. I had been studying during non-work hours, procured all study materials and exams at my own expense, and used personal time off (vacation) days to sit for over 20 hours of examinations. It was clear early in the process that licensure would not help my career at THAT firm. However, it was part of my plan and reflected my ambition. Following licensure, continuing education remains a core value of mine. I participate in several industry committees in areas that I am passionate about. I am an avid reader, listen to relevant podcasts, and watch pertinent documentaries. If we are not actively growing and evolving, we are doing a disservice to ourselves and our future by stunting our growth potential.

One of my driving motivations is to give others a better circumstance than I had. Of course, this manifests itself in different ways, but one example is how my firm approaches continuing education and licensure. We are generous, far beyond industry standards. We see our team members as extensions of our team and assets to our company. By encouraging and incentivizing continuing education and licensure, we reflect our stance that team members are valued, and as their value increases, so does ours as a firm.

Absolutely! We have a societal duty to develop representation in these fields. It is essential to have diverse representation across industries and at all levels, particularly in the industries that shape the built environment. Diversity and representation matter because outstanding leadership requires empathy. Empathy requires the ability to perceive, understand, and feel the emotional states of others, and how can we do that if an industry is only represented by 50% of the population?

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, V.C. funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the U.S. 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.

Neri Oxman

Oxman’s work is revolutionary, and it inspires me. She focuses on material ecology, specifically “biologically inspired and engineered design”.

The world’s climate is the bedrock of our civilization. Meeting the needs of society without breaching the earth’s ecological boundaries demands a paradigm shift. Architects must design buildings, cities, and infrastructure systems as indivisible components of a larger, constantly regenerating, self-sustaining system in balance with broader society and, most importantly, the natural world. Change in engineering, design, and planning is required in cities with their complex infrastructure of buildings, roads, waste, and energy systems.

My vision for our future conforms to democratic civic values; nothing is more important. A successful future will have designed solutions that respond to local conditions yet retain universal and civic values. One must think civically to exercise a set of values and a responsibility to culture, society, and ecology. A thorough recalibration of the architect’s craft will be required to warrant our involvement in more meaningful aspects of future-making beyond buildings. And I believe Oxman’s approach leads us in the right direction to navigate our path forward by actively listening to the living world around us, ultimately creating positive change through nature-inspired solutions.

https://oxman.com/

https://www.instagram.com/oxmanofficial/

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

Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Dena Prastos of Indigo River On The Five Things… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.