Category: Featured

Brandi Muilenburg Of Functionally Autoimmune and Gut Health Academy: 5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve Your Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Make yourself a priority! You must make your health and wellness a priority, no one else will do this for you. It is never too late to make health a priority. It is never too late to focus on feeling better and healing. You and only you can take the steps necessary to become healthy and well.

As a part of our series about “5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brandi Muilenburg.

Brandi Muilenburg is a Registered Respiratory Therapist, Certified Nutritional Health Coach, and a Functional Nutrition Doctoral Candidate. Brandi owns and operates Functionally Autoimmune and Gut Health Academy where she helps people around the world heal from autoimmunity through gut health, nutrition, and lifestyle changes.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the story about how you first got involved in fitness and wellness?

Of course, I have worked in critical care as a respiratory therapist for more than ten years. It was not until I began my own autoimmune healing journey that I really went headfirst into the wellness world. Having such a large science background and working in a hospital for many years I felt that I understood health and wellness. When I started having unexplained weight gain followed by numerous other symptoms I went to my primary physician for help. She took routine labs and after an exam told me I was fine and that my labs were normal. I was just getting older, and I should be happy to be healthy. I accepted this answer for several weeks until my gut issues got so bad, I could not ignore them. I went to see her again and she referred me on to another specialist. I saw forty doctors and had two major surgeries before I said that is enough. Despite the surgeries I was told again and again that I was fine, nothing was wrong with me. I then decided to take my health into my hands. I began researching and reading everything possible about my symptoms and about illness I knew matched certain ones. I found Hashimoto’s and Celiac Disease. I knew a little about both but had not given them much thought. I dug more and decided these fit every single symptom. I self-diagnosed and went to see my doctor with my newfound knowledge. I was told no; these did not fit and that I was fine. That was it, I was going to heal myself. I began treating myself through nutrition, lifestyle and did all I could to begin healing my body and reducing inflammation. By the time I found a physician that would listen I was already in much better health than before. My suspensions were confirmed, and I was able to begin further healing my autoimmunity. I became a certified health coach and worked hard on my own health. My celiac is controlled and my Hashimoto’s is reversed.

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

I think the most interesting story that has happened since starting Functionally Autoimmune is all the amazing people I have met along the way. I have worked with some amazing clients for all walks of life that have taught me just as much as I have taught them. I also have a podcast by the same name, and I have some of the most fascinating guests on the show. For me its meeting amazing people and seeing the wonderful transformations in health.

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

Of course, I think that I have much to offer to anyone suffering from autoimmune or chronic illness because I have been in their shoes. I hear so many stories so similar to my own and I know how my clients are feeling. I also specialize in gut health which is key to healing. 70% of our immune system lives in the gut so it is a step that can not be missed when reversing illness. I am currently working on my doctorial dissertation on gut health. So many people skip this critical step and find themselves back at square one or worse. My unique contribution to the world of wellness is that I understand gut health and lab values and I know how to use them for the most beneficial healing plans.

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?

Oh yes, I agree. The journey to success much like the journey to health cannot be achieved alone. The person or people that I am most grateful for are my family. My husband is supportive and always super encouraging of my dreams and goals. No matter how crazy my ideas, he is there to support me. Our children are also super supportive, and they love hearing about all the people I meet on the podcast. They are by far my biggest cheerleaders.

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

Honestly, the main blockage to change is habits. We are creatures of habit and are often very hesitant to make changes even if we know they are good for us. For example, many times when I met with new clients I talk about small nutritional, or lifestyle changes they can start today. This is usually where the resistance comes in. Our lives are busier today than ever before in history. Many people are juggling jobs, families, finances, aging parents, illnesses, and more. The biggest goal for most is to get through the day. Being open to habit change is so important to healing. The second blockage is confusion. So much information is out there today on every topic imaginable. Many people I met with feel like they are eating healthy and doing the right things. They are often shocked to find out what is in the food they are eating or how small tweaks can change how they feel. The google rabbit hole has confused so many into poor health. Once habits are rebuilt and true knowledge regarding your own body and your own health are gained people make big changes. The third blockage to change is support. You need a support system for any journey, especially a healing journey. This can be family, friends, health coaches, online groups, or what ever that looks like for you. Often times when you embark on a new health journey the people around you don’t understand what you’re doing and can attempt to deter your efforts. Having a support system that understands and is there when you need them is critical in a successful healing journey.

Can you please share your “5 Non-Intuitive Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”? (Please share a story or an example for each, and feel free to share ideas for mental, emotional and physical health.)

The five lifestyle tweaks that I see make the most dramatic success stories are:

1. Find a community or support system that understands and supports your journey. Success is rarely achieved alone. If you sign up for health coaching or an online course, find a buddy to join with you so you have someone to talk about it with. Find a course or coach that provides one on one services or at least a monthly live call or zoom meeting. Having the support system will help you push through on the hard days and cheer you on during the easy ones.
2. Seek to learn your body! This is important. Every single person’s healing journey is different. Your body has specific needs, it has a unique history and a unique set of goals. You can not learn your body through a google search. Seek out professional health coaches, nutritionists or functional medicine doctors that can help you find the clues to your body. Some courses or programs teach you how to find clues in your labs or even in your normal gut functions.
3. Manifest your goals- Keep a journal of goals. This will keep these things in the front of your mind making them a priority in your life. We only get one body and one life so it should be a priority to feel our best and be healthy. The journal is yours to write your feelings, emotions, symptoms, wishes, dreams, goals, or anything that you want out of life. People who keep journals of their goals are 80% more likely to achieve them compared to those that do not journal.
4. Move your body- Move your body every single day even for just ten minutes. If you work a desk job or sit for long periods of time during the day movement is a must for you. Take a short walk, stretch, do yoga, walk the dog, lift weights, ride a bike. It doesn’t really matter what you do just make sure you are moving your body every day. Physical exercise helps clear your mind and energizes your body.
5. Make yourself a priority! You must make your health and wellness a priority, no one else will do this for you. It is never too late to make health a priority. It is never too late to focus on feeling better and healing. You and only you can take the steps necessary to become healthy and well.

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

Of course, weigh loss should not be your primary goal when it comes to health and wellness. I know many people are thinking that sounds crazy but hear me out. The majority of weight gain is due to inflammation which you cannot exercise away. However, daily exercise can do so much more and once your inflammation decreases the weight will take care of itself. Three major benefits of daily exercise are:

1. Energy. Your body wants to move and be active. The more you move the more energy you gain. Your body stores glucose in your muscles and cells to be used as energy when needed. Your body wants to use it, not store it.
2. Sleep. Those who commit to at least ten minutes a day of exercise suffer from far less sleep related issues. When you move your body and release that stored up energy your body is able to relax and sleep better. Sleep is the time your body uses to heal, rebuild and repair.
3. Mental Clarity. Daily exercise provides stress relief and mental clarity. Allowing you to have better memory and longevity.

For someone who is looking to add exercise to their daily routine, which 3 exercises would you recommend that are absolutely critical?

The three main daily exercises I tell my clients to focus on are:

1. Strength training, this can be body weight training or weight training. Strength training helps develop your muscles and reduces stored fat cells. Reducing inflammation and giving you strong bones for added longevity.
2. Yoga or stretching, this provides your muscles and fibers the stretch and support they need. This is also a great stress reliever and has been proven to reduce cortisol levels. It is also a great way to reduce your chances of injuries.
3. Walking, it may seem simple and unexciting, but walking is one of the best things you can do for your body. Get out in nature or hop on a treadmill and walk. The natural motion of walking reduces cortisol levels, promotes healing and lengthens muscle fibers. We were made to walk, and our bodies benefit from it.

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

Wow, I guess if I had to pick one thing it would be to teach people how our current food supply effects our guts and our health. The U.S is one of the only countries in the world that allows large amounts of pesticides, chemicals, and additives to be in our food supply. These things are not only endocrine and hormone disruptors, but they have also been linked to many chronic illnesses. I would love to teach as many people as possible how to avoid these things and how to rid their bodies of them.

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

My all time favorite quite is by Hippocrates: “All disease begins in the gut”

I find this so powerful because it is so true. It is fascinating that even 2500 years ago he was able to determine this to be the case, yet we have moved so far from it in our own healthcare system. Gut health changed my life and has changed the lives of so many of my clients.

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 just see this if we tag them 🙂

There are so many amazing people in this world and so many doing amazing things. I think if I had to choose one person to sit down with-it would-be Dan Buettner. I love the work he is doing with the Blue Zones.

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

Readers can find me on my website at functionallyautoimmune.com

Or guthealthacademy.teachable.com

They can also find me on Instagram @brandimuilenburg

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

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Brandi Muilenburg Of Functionally Autoimmune and Gut Health Academy: 5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Lynsi Eastburn of 3Keys HypnoFertility on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

If you’re going to do something, commit. I follow this practice and encourage my students to do the same. If you’re filled with fear or you are half in and half out, just don’t do it. Whatever it is. That can be placing an ad, hiring a professional, doing IVF, it doesn’t matter. Indecision dilutes energy and focus, which exacerbates stress, which then loops back into the initial fear. Not pleasant, and definitely not a recipe for success.

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lynsi Eastburn.

For over 20 years, author and board certified hypnotherapist, Lynsi Eastburn, (MA, BCH) has been helping people globally in their pre-pregnancy and pregnancy journeys. Lynsi is the founder and creator of HypnoFertility, and owns her own private practice and training facility, HypnoFertility International. Through her work in hypnosis, Lynsi helps bring balance to the spiritual and physical worlds and guides babies to their mothers. HypnoFertility is an innovative program created to help those struggling with infertility. Doctors and fertility clinics worldwide support her program, including Dr. William Kiltz and Dr. Maribelle Verdialez from CNY Fertility, Dr. Mark Bush from Conceptions Reproductive Associates, and Dr. Dorothee Struck from Precious Pregnancies — Germany. In 2003, Lynsi expanded her practice and began to train others in her methods. Thus was the creation of 3Keys® HypnoFertility training. Lynsi has been featured nationally on Lifetime Television Network, ABC and CBS News, on national and international radio programs including KOSI After Dark and has been a guest on Toronto’s Breakfast Television and Canada’s @Home morning show. Her latest book, Waiting in the Wings: Introducing the Pink StarLights, shares the journey of unborn babies looking for their mothers, and the revision edition is set to be released on May 24, 2022.

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?

Hi! Thanks for having me here, so happy to have the chance to chat with you. I’m Lynsi Eastburn. I am a board-certified hypnotherapist, hypnosis instructor, and author, and I am the creator of HypnoFertility.

I have been working with hypnosis to promote fertility for more than 20 years and over this period I developed a specialty program which I originally called HypnoFertility. To distinguish it from what has now become a generic term, my method is now known as 3Keys® HypnoFertility. The 3Keys term comes from the three keys to conception which I received in meditation as I prepared to bring my youngest son into the world back in the early ’90s. I’ll tell you more about those in a little bit.

I’ve been in the healing arts field for nearly 30 years, but my backstory goes back quite a bit farther than that. I’ve always loved babies, and I came into this world concerned that women who truly wanted a baby might be unable to have one. That’s not something little kids tend to worry about, but I was very much aware of it. When I was nine years old, I heard about the first “test tube” baby born in England. I was so happy about it, and I clearly remember where I was when I heard the news. I was sitting in the back seat of my parents’ car and the announcement came on the radio. Listening to the details, a sense of relief flooded me and I had the thought that now any loving person — I didn’t want mean people to have babies, of course! — who wanted a baby could have one.

All my life, I’ve had incredible compassion for those unable to have a baby. And 20 years after that radio announcement, I suddenly found myself actively doing something to help and creating something that would help on a large scale. Something I never could have imagined but was so extremely fulfilling. It warmed my heart and brought me such joy. I embraced HypnoFertility and dedicated myself to getting it out there.

Helping women — men and couples also, but it’s mainly women who come to see me — struggling with infertility to have the babies they long for is my passion, my life purpose. Since I began to recognize the benefits of hypnosis to overcome infertility in my private practice, I have wanted everyone to know about it, to know that it is a very viable option for those having difficulty starting a family.

I have always had a global practice. At one time that meant people were flying in or driving great distances to see me, but thanks to the ongoing development of online technologies, it has become easier and much more convenient for people to work with me. I really love working with clients on Zoom or by phone. And now there are even more options like WhatsApp, Messenger, FaceTime — and Skype has been around forever — so that good connections are assured regardless of where a person is located. And, thanks to Covid, online practices are even more common, not to mention accepted and expected, than when I started working with distance clients 18 years ago.

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?

Because of what I do, I have a lot of interesting stories! One that I think is particularly important is that as I began helping women to get pregnant with hypnosis, I had no way to “prove” it was effective. Women I worked with were getting pregnant, having made no other changes than the HypnoFertility. These women had received dire prognoses, often being told they would never have a baby, that they had a zero per cent chance of ever getting pregnant. As more and more women came to see me, more and more babies “showed up” (that’s how I like to think of it). I didn’t know why, they just did. Soon my clients were telling their doctors about me and the work I was doing with hypnosis to help women get pregnant. But no matter how many women talked about it, no matter how many women who were supposed to be unable to get pregnant did get pregnant, the doctors repeatedly dismissed the results as anecdotal. And I guess, in all fairness, they were. However, anecdotal or not, babies were pouring in — regardless of what anyone thought or said.

So, early on, I knew I was using hypnosis to help women to conceive. I didn’t know exactly how or why it was effective, just that it was, and I trusted that. Women who came in to see me repeatedly said, “I just know there’s a baby there.” I believed them and worked with them accordingly. I didn’t look at numbers or age or diagnoses; I simply followed my intuition and honored theirs. And because I did so, an entire new specialty was born — not to mention a whole lot of babies! I accepted my anecdotal babies, and my clients did too. They didn’t care if the babies were anecdotal or not, they were just so happy to have them.

I didn’t let anyone else’s opinions keep me from continuing with the amazing work I was doing. I embraced the term anecdotal and often said that my clients preferred their anecdotal babies to empirical evidence “proving” that they were possible. I kept it light-hearted, but at the same time I let absolutely nothing deter me from what I would later discover is a major part of my life purpose. I moved forward, I persevered, and now my fertility work has become well-regarded in the medical world as well as the world of energetic or spiritual practice. It has opened eyes, created interest, inspired research, and is no longer easily dismissed.

Main lessons and takeaways? Don’t listen to what others say, listen to yourself. Follow your heart, your gut, your inner knowing… and don’t let anyone or anything stop you. Just because something has yet to be proven, doesn’t mean it isn’t real.

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

I’d been specializing in HypnoFertility for a number of years when one day I realized that I could see spirit babies around their mothers. I’d always sensed them, and that was one of the reasons I’d been able to support women who also could feel their babies, who were confident that they would have a baby (or more than one), despite being told otherwise. I’ve been in the healing arts for 30 years. As well as being a hypnotherapist, I’m also an intuitive empath, a Reiki Master Teacher in three systems of Reiki, and I’m trained in other forms of energy work and healing modalities. But I’d never considered myself psychic. At first, I’d rationalized the experience of seeing spirit babies floating or flying around my office, deciding that what I was seeing had to be the beginning of a migraine, or that I was tired, or that I had something in my eye. It kept happening however, and always when I was with clients, and before long I couldn’t deny that I was seeing these babies. But I kept it quiet, I didn’t share the information with anyone. I wanted to stick with the practice of what I considered the art and science of hypnosis and leave the psychic stuff to the psychics.

But that was a big mistake. The babies were appearing to me for a reason and my job was to acknowledge them, to figure out why I could suddenly see them, to learn what was next on my journey. I kept trying to compartmentalize, to stick — at least outwardly — with the five senses as much as possible, even though I knew, had always known, there was so much more. Had always used so much more. I’d always incorporated my spiritual gifts and energetic practices into my daily life and into my work with clients. I guess I wasn’t quite ready to embrace the next level of actually seeing these incredible spirit babies.

When one day I finally did tell one of my clients that I could see her spirit baby, she was completely elated. She was also disappointed that I hadn’t shared the information with her sooner and told me I just had to let my clients know whenever their babies popped in for a visit. Because I had been reluctant to admit seeing spirit babies, the evolution of my work slowed a bit. I hadn’t immediately honored my gift in this case; I had instead judged it. That was certainly a big lesson though I hadn’t initially realized it. Fortunately, I did embrace the next level of my spirit baby journey; they had much for me to do, much for me to share with the world.

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?

Infertility is a global epidemic. I have worked diligently for years to make people aware that hypnosis is a viable option to help with this devastating issue. It is complementary to all other modalities. In some cases, HypnoFertility is an alternative to unwanted medical treatment, but it also aids medical fertility procedures to help increase those success rates, thereby helping prevent the need for repeated use of costly medications and what can be exhausting ongoing treatment. Also, fewer medical treatments result in less use of synthetic substances that concern people and that is huge for health and wellness. I have trained other hypnotists to use what I’ve developed to help others as I do. It is such rewarding work. My process is holistic, it’s non-invasive, and it supports all aspects of mind, body, and spirit. Healing occurs on multiple levels, often beyond the fertility crisis that initiated a person’s quest for help and healing. In turn, babies are born to parents who are tuned into them, are open-minded, who recognize and support the needs of others which previously they may not have even noticed.

Beyond the HypnoFertility itself, and helping people to have their babies, this work is also helping the planet. In a sense, infertility is a symptom that drives people to seek out assistance, and oftentimes that assistance is something they never would have looked into had they not been struggling to get pregnant. I’m talking about lightwork, Reiki and energy healing, meditation, yoga, hypnosis, acupuncture, crystals, a healthier — and sometimes more compassionate — diet, sound healing… that type of thing. All that might be to some extent considered “woo woo,” but which is exactly what our planet needs to recover from the extensive abuses that have been perpetrated upon her.

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.

At the top of my list of lifestyle tweaks that will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing is gratitude. I know it’s a bit of a buzz word these days, but I mean beyond casually throwing the word around or distractedly offering thanks for something or other every once in a while. I mean focused, heart-felt gratitude. Taking time to acknowledge all that we have to be grateful for — the little things as much as the big ones. Intentionally picking something each day, something beyond that which we might easily think of, helps us to enliven our gratitude for everything we are blessed with.

The second lifestyle tweak is to be present, to be in the moment, and to stop or at least ease up on all the worry we get bogged down in. There is an actual study that showed that 85% of things people worry about never happen, so we are wasting precious time and energy stressing out over what we can’t control. In the words of the Dalai Lama: “If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.”

A third tweak I’d recommend is to do your own work. If we haven’t done our own work, we are not healing, not honoring our higher or authentic self, and we are projecting that which we will not acknowledge or deal with onto everyone around us. There is far too much of that happening these days, and it causes unnecessary strife. Though it may not be easy to do, doing one’s work is vital to living a truly fulfilling life. And, of course, especially during these times, babies need parents who have done their own work, they don’t need to have to parent their parents as happened so much in the past.

The fourth is balance. I talk a lot about what I call the balance of intention and surrender. My clients tend to be doers, achievers. However, “you can’t do a baby.” No matter how much money, time, energy, determination, and anything else someone throws at it, it is just not possible to force a baby to happen. What a person can do is to put their energy into the things they can actually do: intend to have a baby, decide how to go about it, choose practitioners, go to appointments, etc. Now, when I say surrender, I don’t mean to give up, but rather to let go, to allow, to become receptive. The balance of intention and surrender is non-attachment. It is the balance of doing and being.

And finally, I’d say trust. Trust that everything is as it needs to be, that everything is exact and correct. The saying “it is what it is” isn’t bad advice. It can be annoying, especially when what is isn’t what we want. If we win the lottery, it’s easy to accept that it is what it is. When things are not happening as we wish, that is the last thing we want to hear. This is where it is essential to trust.

Ultimately, if we integrate the practices of gratitude, being present, and maintaining balance, and if we do our own work, we can then truly trust that everything is as it needs to be.

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

I would start the Gratitude Movement. This is what I think would bring the most amount of wellness to the greatest number of people. I mentioned gratitude in my life tweak suggestions, and I really feel strongly that dedicated gratitude is what will best cultivate true wellness for everyone — and everything — on our planet, and even beyond. Imagine if everyone practiced true gratitude! Selflessly, collectively, offering heartfelt thanks and blessings for all? How phenomenal would that be?

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

When I try to think of something I wish someone had told me before I started my career in the healing arts, it seems that no matter what I come up with, I find that someone did tell me. So perhaps I can better answer this question by saying that the issues I experienced aren’t so much because no one told me about them, but more because I didn’t listen or maybe just didn’t realize the depth and breadth of the information. For example, I can say that I wish someone had told me not to let myself get distracted. However, one of my mentors did tell me this, and it didn’t stop me from letting it happen. Those of an entrepreneurial mindset tend to have a lot of ideas. Not just a lot of ideas, but a lot of good ideas, a lot of great ideas. And it’s difficult not to want to implement them all. I’ve definitely gotten distracted by ideas over the years, and I’ve needed to reset my focus more times than I care to recall!

I was fortunate to have excellent training and mentoring from multiple instructors right from the beginning, so there is not a lot that I can say I wish someone had told me before I started. Because I was so fortunate, I try to do the same for my students and pass along everything I can that will help them to be as successful as they desire to be.

I don’t think anyone really told me to learn from multiple instructors. I think this is important and I have trained with some of the best in the field. I encourage people to do that too. But there is such a thing as training with too many people. The more trainings a person does, the more likely they will encounter conflicting information. That is confusing and frustrating. It comes down to balance — it’s good to keep learning but it’s important not to get so caught up in it that you’re never more than a perpetual student.

People tend to be concerned about how much to charge for their services; I find that women especially sometimes feel as though they should not charge much or need to give their services away. I felt that way a bit when I first started doing Reiki, though my RMT never suggested we should. In fact, she encouraged us to value ourselves and our services, and especially emphasized that to be spiritual did not mean you had to give your work away. There was a lot of that type of thinking at the time; there still is. But you can’t help anyone if you’re drained, exhausted, or can’t afford to keep your practice open.

You get what you pay for. Except that’s not always true. It’s not a bad guideline, but it’s not a hard and fast rule. Discernment is critical. People tend to throw this advice around a lot, but I always advise caution — don’t take it literally. Whether you are buying a toaster, hiring a new employee, or choosing a fertility clinic, you’ve got to tune in and look deeper than what you might see on the surface.

If you’re going to do something, commit. I follow this practice and encourage my students to do the same. If you’re filled with fear or you are half in and half out, just don’t do it. Whatever it is. That can be placing an ad, hiring a professional, doing IVF, it doesn’t matter. Indecision dilutes energy and focus, which exacerbates stress, which then loops back into the initial fear. Not pleasant, and definitely not a recipe for success.

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

Each of these topics are important to me, but I guess I’d say mental health is especially dear to my heart. I’ve been a vegetarian since I arrived on the planet; I was forced to eat meat as a child, and it sickened me on every level. So, I know that issue well, and while it concerns me deeply, I am pleased that at least now there is more awareness of veganism and many of its concerns than there has been in the past. I feel that mental health is in dire need of attention. Mental illness is still very much ignored, denied, dismissed. It is misunderstood and virtually invisible in much of its scope. There is such a stigma attached to it which so often prevents people from getting the help they need, or even recognizing that there is any help to be had at all.

I’ve personally experienced depression which is quite prevalent in my family of origin. I understand that it is very difficult to see beyond such despair when you are trapped in it, and I have a lot of compassion for those who must endure it repeatedly. I’ve heard people tell people things like “just snap out of it” or “be a man.” If there were a greater awareness of these issues this would not be such a common reaction from those who just don’t get it. They don’t get it and they can’t get it because mental health is not something the larger collective has yet deemed essential.

I’ve seen and supported a lot of mental health struggles, to varying degrees, firsthand. Depression, PTSD, anxiety, agoraphobia, etc. Many years ago, two immediate family members on my husband’s side committed suicide within a few months of each other. I have a semicolon tattoo on my ankle; the Semicolon Project was started in 2013 by a young woman, Amy Bleuel, who wanted a symbol to honor her father following his suicide. “A semicolon is used when an author could’ve chosen to end their sentence but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life.” This movement has made great progress in bringing public recognition — and empathy — to the suffering of so many. Unfortunately, Amy lost her lifelong battle with severe clinical depression and committed suicide at the age of 31. As an empath, I just can’t not understand, just can’t not feel this to the core.

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

Instagram: lynsi.eastburn

Facebook: @3KeysHypnoFertility

Website: www.hypnofertility.com

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

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Women In Wellness: Lynsi Eastburn of 3Keys HypnoFertility on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Kathryn Mullen of GODDESS MAGAZINE TV On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Finding the confidence within yourself to take a chance, take a risk with everything and step into the unknown. Men apparently are fearless. Mature women…not so much. It’s harder for us to jump into risk with both feet. The trick is to jump in with both feet and a great connection to Source.

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

Kathryn Mullen of GODDESS MAGAZINE TV cannabis friendly Fashion beauty and lifestyle magazine and on demand video content for MATURE WOMEN.

Model, Actor, Talent Agent, Publicist to Online Magazine Publisher and Video Producer 30+ years fashion professional.

Kathryn found her life purpose in lifting the hearts and minds of mature women!

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

My career in media production began when I was five. I was the tagalong child of the Director! In 1966, my mom Beverly, directed BRIGADOON, a performance done at an All Black High School in South Dallas. UNHEARD OF for a white woman to go into “THAT” neighborhood. MUCH LESS direct a very “white” Musical with an All Black cast!! Talk about a Female Disruptor!!!

My career in fashion began in 1998. When the plus size fashion segment of the industry was just opening up.I was selected by an Agency as a full figure model

Being a fashion “speciality”, it was very apparent that this “specialty” was a large part of the fashion consumer market. And the plus size fashion consumer market was totally unaddressed by a fashion magazine.

I published GODDESSmag.com as a fashion magazine for full figures from 1999 until 2006.

Boom- First disruption! I was a fashion blogger before there were fashion bloggers!

Even before Twitter and Facebook existed

GoddessMag.com had earned more than 250,000 readers a month with 29% returning readers.

The magazine morphed into the next season every quarter and was on average 180 pages. Goddessmag.com featured Fashion, Beauty, alternative health, political stories and more.

Do to the newness of the internet and the inability to monetize it at the time, I gradually moved from online fashion publishing into Media Placements.

For the last several years I am an accomplished media publicist, specializing in cannabis businesses and Experts, with a track record for national placements.

Since mature women are the main consumers and buyers of cannabis; and being an avid cannabist myself using it not only for recreation but as a anti-anxiety supplement: another realization was that there is no outlet for cannabis companies to advertise their products where the general public can learn about them.

To me consumer-wise the general public is mature women.

This made business sense. The micro niche that I had found was actually very very large. Mature women Fashion Beauty and Cannabis.

Another Disruption!

How does it get better than that?

The same thing that motivated me to renew and update GODDESS magazine TV into a Mecca for mature women was the same thing that inspired me to start it as a Plus Size to begin with: I want to see a magazine that features women like me. Imperfect, older, fallible and …hopefully…beautiful.

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

To begin with, there is not a single magazine extant that addresses the needs desires and consumer interest that concern mature women. NOT ONE!!

That right there is very disruptive.

How is GODDESS Magazine TV disruptive? GODDESS Magazine. TV opens up an entirely new consumer demographic- mature women.

GMTV skews the readership from mainstream fashion magazines and opens the doors for those mature readers to find themselves in a magazine that is NOT about celebrity worship, impossible to attain overly photoshopped images and advertisements aimed at a 20- something with her father’s money.

GODDESS MAGAZINE TV understands the desires and economics of mature women.

Goddess Magazine.TV is also created in order to be a gathering point- a total media platform–and a chat room, of sorts, for women to find community around the traditional roles of men and women, what mature women are interested in and how to raise and maintain a family of adults.

Supporting and reinforcing the family unit.

Now that’s Disruptive!

Additionally, GODDESS Magazine.TV embraces the use of cannabis as medicine, as a recreational substance, as face and body care, apparel and HomeGoods.

NO OTHER WOMEN’S MAGAZINE PROMOTES CANNABIS USE. NOT ONE!

ANOTHER DISRUPTION!!

Goddess Magazine.TV is all about gathering, inspiring and directing the consumer power of the largest wealthiest consumer demographic in the country- mature women.

Our purpose is to drive home the point to advertisers and marketers that mature women exist and we are the largest consumers of virtually any given product manufactured.

We buy for ourselves, our children, our loved ones, our pets and our homes.

And in order for advertisers and marketers to dramatically increase their bottom line with very little adjustment: recognizing mature women, understanding mature women and marketing to mature women is their most successful strategy

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

Producing fashion shows is a large part of what I do. I produced a fashion show in Dallas with friends as models and a line of beautiful glittering women’s evening cocktail dresses. The event was at a high end bar.

The music started and the show went off without a hitch until our model Dorothy was so enamored of how pretty she looked in her iridescent sequin dress she refused to take off the dress and put on her next two changes.

In order to keep the show timing right I had to keep her in the show in the same dress four times…

“…you may remember Dorothy in this dress from the last two walks…”

Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Plan for ANY and ALL inevitabilities!! And…maybe hire professionals for a job.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors?

My main Mentor is my Mom. Not that she’s shown me how to put together a digital magazine and On Demand content. But in my older years I looked back on the memories I have of my mother, who was a widow for 17 years after my father died. I watched her life and never really knew what she was going through until I hit my fifties. Her loneliness, her solo hobbies, her intelligence disregarded, scaling the impossible task of raising four children by herself in the 1960s; never really knowing what she loved, what impacted her, what inspired and moved her forward.

But I saw her when I was young and it took me to be an adult to understand how important a mom is, how very little of her life is of concern to her children and how the path that mature women walk is so far from what people think.

Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

My mom sued LTV for sex discrimination in the early seventies and won. My mom taught literacy two adults on TV in the early sixties. My mom was a fashion model when she was in her twenties.

My mom turned into a successful banking executive and a partner in an advertising firm.

Everything that I love, everything that I’ve done, has grown out of the things I watched my mom accomplish and the things she was interested in.

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

Disruption is positive when it singles out an issue that is important and needs to be addressed.

In this case mature women, across the board, feel invisible and unimportant. Not only because we have lost a sense of ourselves, as we have given so much, throughout the last 20 to 25 years of our family’s lives, but because we have been marginalized by mainstream advertising: they opt instead for the 18 to 35 year olds money and time.

When in fact the greater profitability is to the largest wealthiest consumer demographic in the country–mature women.

Disruption is not positive when the issue of “invisibility” becomes clouded by ageist or bigoted comments aimed to emotionally damage the target.

Mature women already feel invisible, unimportant and irrelevant. We are sad for the life potential we lost when we were young and we are grieving our youth and beauty. We already feel helpless, hopeless, unattractive and frustrated.

Read that as angry Karens. Regardless the race.

When disruption is stacked with hateful and divisive comments directed at mature women, who are most powerfully motivated by love: the desire to give love and share love; when hurtful and hateful comments are directed to us more we feel it more than most people and it deeply piercees our hearts and minds.

Why? Because our main purpose in life as mature women is to love. And in order to give love one must feel loved. So many mature women have been discarded by their spouses or by their children and the wounds are very, very deep.

Angry disruption is never good.

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

My Mom said “act like you’re THAT PERSON, and you will become that person”.

My first real corporate job. I was 21. I was terribly afraid because I had just gotten a promotion to a position I knew nothing about. I remember my mom took me to lunch and so gently and confidently said

“You can do this. It’s not bigger than you. Just act like you’re that person and you will become that person.”.

That comment changed my life and it made me realize that I can be anything as a career or anybody that I want to be… I just have to believe in myself.

Another Mentor John Tayloe, a Real Estate investor, told me “… It’s all in how you write the contract”.

Meaning, that it is possible to create a unique and one of a kind agreement with another party that benefits everyone. You don’t have to take what your offered you can modify it. It’s all in how you write the contract.

My main Mentor The Holy Creator source related to me in meditation…” you already have in your experience everything you need to accomplish the task at hand”. And I realize this is so very true. Most people do not look around them for answers they look beyond themselves for answers. When everything you need to accomplish the task at hand is already in your experience.

We are sure you aren’t done.

How are you going to shake things up next?

My company Goddess OmniMedia ltd in the process of creating on demand video content for ROKU that we plan to launch in late Autumn 2022.

Remember, as a fashion and lifestyle magazine we are 85% advertising. And we do it in a soft sell manner so the ads are more like fun vignettes.

Once we have our GODDESS MAGAZINE TV Roku site up for GMTV-

we will go into production of an online magazine and On Demand video content for Big and Tall men and a christian conservative young women’s media platform.

This year are planned exciting and fun live events that bring together the community of mature women in locations across this country and eventually across the globe!

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

Funding. Men have unlimited funding options and are more often taken seriously when a new concept is proposed.

Finding an open unfilled niche’ that you love. Men work for money. Women work our passions.

Finding the confidence within yourself to take a chance, take a risk with everything and step into the unknown. Men apparently are fearless. Mature women…not so much. It’s harder for us to jump into risk with both feet. The trick is to jump in with both feet and a great connection to Source.

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

I AM Discourse By St Germaine- I really enjoy this book because it is an instruction manual on the spiritual energy around us and how we can manipulate it to produce our wildest dreams.

I AM Discourse discusses personal responsibility around our own thoughts and how our thoughts create our lives. Personally I have found the techniques and information in this book profoundly impacting in my spirituality and my ability to run my business.

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. 🙂

The movement I am creating is a movement towards love and understanding of your mother: to think about what her life was like when you were young, what motivates her and inspires her.

To bring mature women into the light so that we do not consider ourselves — or feel –invisible: to advertisers, politicians and to our children.

A movement that informs people and softens them towards the most important person in their life- their mother; all this and the main focus of lifting the hearts and minds of mature women through media live events and Beauty/ Fashion makeovers.

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

I was raised the youngest child in a family of four by a single mom. We did not have a lot extra. Mom worked all the time. I was a latch key kid.

As I grew up I realized I was not as affluent as the other kids- that I often have times had to make do with whatever I had.

In a prayerful meditation when I was older I realized that “everything I need in order to move forward with my life, everything I needed to move forward with my company was already extant in my experience” and all I had to do was find it. I use this quote daily to do my job!

How can our readers follow you online?

GODDESS MAGAZINE.TV website

GODDESS MAGAZINE TV channel on YouTube

GODDESS MAGAZINE TV on Instagram

GODDESS MAGAZINE TV on GAB

Boomer Nation channel on YouTube

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

__thank you so much for this opportunity to let the world know about GODDESS Magazine TV and our mission to uplift the hearts and minds of mature women everywhere!! I hope your readers join us!

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Female Disruptors: Kathryn Mullen of GODDESS MAGAZINE TV 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.

Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Valerie Smith of Faze Medicines On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Find your “Why.” Many people think of this as “find your passion,” but I believe it’s more than just working at a job that you are passionate about. It’s understanding what drives you to wake up and be excited about going to work. It’s the extra motivation to stay late or work harder because you know it’ll positively impact the outcome of what you are trying to deliver/achieve.

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

Valerie Smith serves as the Head of IT and Facilities for Faze Medicines, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company pioneering therapeutics based on the groundbreaking new science of biomolecular condensates. Bringing more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry to the company, her responsibilities include setting the strategy and direction for the IT and Informatics capabilities and enhancing the efficiency and operational effectiveness of the site and laboratory management. Prior to joining Faze, Valerie led the Research & Development IT team at Alkermes where she was responsible for over 300 scientific systems from early research to validation batches in development. Valerie lives with her husband, son, daughter and two dogs in Southern Massachusetts.

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

I majored in chemistry and felt a strong calling to work in a field where I could positively impact patients’ lives. For me, this translated to becoming a medicinal chemist so I could work to identify molecules that could one day become drugs.

At the same time, I have always enjoyed technology and the problem-solving aspect of IT. I was thrilled to discover a world of technology that could support scientific efforts towards drug discovery. My current role is the perfect marriage of following my passions for IT and technology while still supporting the delivery of drugs to patients.

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

One of the most interesting and fun days I had recently was while working on our team’s space expansion project. We were invited to our design company’s showroom and were able to interact with different office layouts and potential design pieces to figure out what would work best for our team. It was a lot of fun and was extremely helpful in decision making. This is an area that I don’t have much experience in, so it was great to be able to branch out my skill set and participate in something new.

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 accidentally parked 10 blocks away from the office on my first day at Faze. After not being in Cambridge for 10+ years I hadn’t realized how much everything had changed. It’s a good reminder to always doublecheck all the details before you head out the door.

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

Faze is filled with scientists that are deeply committed to unlocking the potential behind condensate biology in targeting diseases. The challenge of this biology draws some of the most curious minds and committed scientists that I have had the privilege of working with. This trait, coupled with the overwhelming comradery and inclusiveness is what drew me to the company.

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

In the IT arena, we are excited about creating a highly robust imaging analysis pipeline. This should provide us with an efficiency advantage within the drug development industry as we target condensates in new therapeutic indications. Success in this area could be transformational as condensates provide a unique mechanism of action to target intractable diseases.

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

I’m so excited by the strides that have been made over the last 15+ years that I’ve been in this industry, but there is always more that can be done to level the playing field. Despite our advancements, there are still unconscious biases and stereotypes that must be addressed. I also think that it is critical to sponsor and support women in the STEM and technology fields. When I first started my career, there were not many women in leadership positions. I am thrilled to work at Faze where more than half of the leadership team is comprised of women.

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

To answer this question, I’d like to share a story. My husband is a highly capable and incredibly intelligent individual. He is a top performer at his job within a successful biotech company.

At home, I have historically been the “leader” of our family. However, despite knowing the competency of my husband, I do not delegate to him the way I do at work with my professional team. At home, I have adopted the micromanager’s tendency to do it myself to get things done the way I want them to be done. I often find myself placing heavy burdens on myself because of this habit. I would advise any woman working in a dual income household to delegate to your partner the same way you delegate to your team. The same actions that led to success at work will also lead to a balanced home life.

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

There are many stereotypes of women in the workplace that we need to overcome. In general, women are often described with negative adjectives if they come across as demanding in the workplace, their careers can be seen as less important than their husbands’ and they are often expected to have “feminine” qualities that make them more nurturing and better at communicating.

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

Challenge yourself. Don’t wait for other people to challenge you or give you opportunities. Continue to grow your skill set and increase your domain knowledge so that you can be the expert in the room.

Pay attention to the business drivers. Identify a need or issue that needs resolution and think of how you can help impact a positive outcome.

Be open to constructive criticism. There will always be ways to improve your professional and personal skill set. Sometimes this feedback is delivered in a way that can make you reluctant to listen. Guard against that instinct and try to take the feedback that is given to heart so you can continue to improve.

Be empathetic. Everyone will remember working for a fair and kind manager more than they will remember the project that delivered smoothly or was behind on the timeline. So much time is spent at work that you want to ensure your team has a supportive environment to be productive in.

Find your “Why.” Many people think of this as “find your passion,” but I believe it’s more than just working at a job that you are passionate about. It’s understanding what drives you to wake up and be excited about going to work. It’s the extra motivation to stay late or work harder because you know it’ll positively impact the outcome of what you are trying to deliver/achieve.

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

Embrace the individuality that each person on the team brings to the collective group. This diverse way of thinking and interacting with the world can make a work team even more effective when nourished and supported.

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

Delegate, delegate, delegate….and then check in constantly. I am always excited to hear about the progress our team makes or the challenges they are facing. I reach out often to just chat about how things are going and see if there is an area that I can help with. Make sure you approach your check-ins with curiosity and not the intent to micromanage.

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?

Scott Wilkins took a chance on me when I was a medicinal chemist with an interest in technology. Without his sponsorship I would not have pivoted my career to the IT arena. His continuing mentorship and leadership by example have served as guides as I have progressed in my career.

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

One area that I am passionate about is mentorship. Whether it is mentoring people on my team or outside of it, I really embrace the activity of giving back, especially to more junior individuals. I have had many amazing mentors throughout my career and would not have been as successful without their guidance.

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

I would love to be involved in creating a life science technology platform that offers plug and play capabilities for small biotechs. Technology is critically important to a company’s day-to-day activities and basic infrastructure capabilities should be standard across the board. Establishing an open-source roadmap or blueprint would allow each company to start on equal footing and focus on facilitating the science instead of reinventing the IT environment. It would also allow for a strong foundation to creating the proprietary technology that sets companies apart in this field today.

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

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Wayne Gretzky

As a lifelong athlete, this quote has been very inspirational to me throughout my career. There have been multiple instances where I may not have felt as qualified or ready for the next step in my career, but I didn’t let my uncertainty or fear prevent me from trying. By working hard and paying attention to details, I have able to get up to speed quickly and excel in new environments.

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

I’d love to meet Michelle McKenna-Doyle. For those that don’t know, she is the CIO of the National Football League (NFL). I’m so impressed by what she has achieved in a typically male-dominated area. I’d be interested to speak with her about how she got to where she is and what challenges she faced along the way. I’d also love to hear her “why” and what she loves best about her job.

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

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Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Valerie Smith of Faze Medicines On The 5 Leadership Lessons… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Modern Fashion: Leslye Young of SY The Label On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Know your “why” — What differentiates your brand from others. How is your brand different from any other brand that’s selling similar stuff. Telling customers your story and the meaning behind your brand will go a long way.

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

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

As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Leslye Young.

Leslye Young is the co-founder, co-owner, and CEO of SY The Label. Growing up she always was interested in fashion and being involved in athletics. After struggling to find comfortable clothing while working in college athletics, she knew it was the time to start her clothing brand. SY The Label combines the best qualities of an athleisure and lifestyle line into a wear who you are, body-positive clothing brand featuring comfortable clothes you can wear for any occasion. She designs each piece with versatility in mind to bring you all-day comfort and to elevate your confidence, no matter what life throws your 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 childhood “backstory”?

I grew up in a small town in Kentucky called Mayfield. It was the town where everyone was at a high school football game on Friday nights and at McDonald’s for Saturday morning breakfast talking about the game. I grew up playing all kinds of sports. I was always on the go between basketball practice, swim practice, soccer practice, and tennis lessons. My grandparents lived 5 houses up the street and I would spend a lot of time there. Sometimes my grandmother and I would go to Wal*Mart, pick out a fabric and pattern, and I’d sit there and watch her make me a dress or shirt from scratch. I thought it was so cool. Fashion and sports were my two favorite things growing up. I might’ve not had the most expensive clothing or what was trending, but I knew what I had on was comfortable and I styled it how I wanted to.

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

I always had the dream of owning my own clothing brand, but I wasn’t sure how or where to start, or even if I could make it happen due to being from a small town — and not somewhere like LA or New York City. It was just a dream — not reality. Growing up playing sports I knew I wanted to be around them when I got to college, but not necessarily play. I ended up getting an internship with the Murray State Athletic department in marketing. I absolutely loved it and wanted to do this for the rest of my life, so I thought. After graduating with a BS degree in Advertising with a minor in marketing I ended up moving back in with my parents jobless. I was miserable. I was back at home not doing squat and applying for any kind of job. I got a retail position at a local boutique and learned everything I could about retail. After I landed this part-time job, fashion came back into my mind. I went back to school and got a master’s of professional studies in Fashion Merchandising from LIM College out of NYC. I got my master’s in 10 months all online and loved every second of learning the fashion world and what it takes to create your own brand and fashion line. This is where it gets funny… As soon as I graduated with my master’s I landed a job in college athletics (what I wanted a year before). It was an internship, but I needed the money and experience if I wanted to live out my dream job working in college athletics. While working in college athletics I could never ever find a pair of pants that were comfortable enough and that was also stylish. Khakis just weren’t doing it for me anymore. After working in college athletics for two years I landed an Assistant AD title and oversaw a whole department which happened to be men. Nothing wrong with that, but being a female in a dominant male career field you didn’t necessarily always feel comfortable or confident in what you were doing. I was at the top of my career path two years in, in what I thought would be my dream job, but in reality, I wasn’t a fan. Being 26 years old in the position I thought I would have when I was 40+ years old I knew working in college athletics wasn’t for me. My husband and I moved states and I changed jobs and entered the corporate world. I landed a job working for a local boutique hotel in the town we moved to. I was in charge of all the marketing, graphic design, social media, email marketing, etc. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t really fulfilling anything. I really wanted to do something that I was passionate about and hospitality just wasn’t it. The pandemic hit and as we know it changed everyone’s life. I knew it was the time to start my own clothing brand if that’s what I wanted to do. My first designer piece is the SY Jogger, a pant that is comfortable for all but ready to make you feel confident if you need something fancy to wear as well. Forget the khakis, the SY Jogger is your new favorite pant.

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

I would say the most interesting thing is searching for different manufacturers and different fabrics. I knew that I wanted a manufacturer in the USA and wanted it to be women-owned. It was tough not having ANY connections whatsoever so I definitely had to do my research. I also wasn’t aware of how many different kinds of fabrics and textiles are out there. There might be two fabrics of the same combination but different weights or there might be two fabrics that are the exact same combos but come from different suppliers and feel completely different. When designing and creating the SY Jogger, my first designer piece, I probably went through about 400 different fabrics trying to find the one I wanted to go with.

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?

1. Patience — creating and designing an article of clothing takes time — especially when you’re on a budget. Going from the idea to the real thing probably took me about 10 months. I was advertising and advertising that I had these awesome pants that I designed and telling every friend, family member, and even stranger, but it felt like FOREVER for them to become real. Every single person kept asking when are the pants going to be done? I would have to be calm (even though I was screaming in my head) and say “just a little bit longer.” Getting one product out takes time and I learned that. From designing the product, choosing a manufacturer, looking through hundreds of different fabrics, and getting your first prototype to your first sample, it just takes time. Then you have to wait for production. It’s a lot of waiting, but when you see your first product become real-life — that feeling is everything.
2. Go-getter — Starting a business is not easy and it’s not cheap. I have a full-time job on top of running the clothing brand. Everything that we make with the clothing brand goes right back into the brand. Whether that’s restocking an item or making something new, it goes right back into the brand. My full-time job helps pay the bills. I, fortunately, work from home so it makes things a little bit easier. My husband and I also have another little side gig where we help some friends with graphic design and social media. It allows us to save and pay for pre-production and production costs. We work nonstop, but I wouldn’t have it any other way because it all allows me to do what I have dreamed of. The goal is to completely focus on the brand and that’s my number one priority, but patience is key.
3. Planning and Organization — In fashion, you are planning next season’s products 6 months to a year out from when it gets released. You go through the idea, the design, the prototype, the sample, then production. After production, you have to plan and organize photoshoots for the website, record all inventory, send them to influencers, and then start advertising when the products drop. Being a one-man show (two-man if you could my husband, who runs it with me) it’s hard, but you have to do it because all of our costs are going into production.

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

The “why” behind SY The Label makes our brand stand out. The reason I wanted to start this clothing brand is so all women could wear something that makes them feel both comfortable and confident. Style and comfort are two things that shouldn’t be mutually exclusive. When you’re comfortable in effortllessly stylish clothing you feel like the best version of yourself.

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

“You will face many defeats in life, but never allow yourself to be defeated.” — Maya Angelou

I can’t really pick out a certain story, but I would just say this is relevant every single day. You’re going to go through many different struggles and hardships because that’s part of life. It’s the same with owning and running a business. There are going to be plenty of things I can’t control, but the only thing I can control is how I react to them. I can’t let it defeat me or defeat the purpose of why I am running a clothing brand.

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

More people are paying attention to where their clothing is made and who makes it. We have a long way to go still, but I do think people are being more aware of what they’re wearing and where it was made. I am excited about this because you just don’t ever think about the ones overseas making clothing all day for nothing. I always ask people “Would you want to make clothing all day for basically nothing?” If not, then why support a brand that does that? Everyone deserves fair pay.

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

One of our tag lines is “Bring comfort and confidence into your day.” I want people to feel confident and comfortable when they wear SY The Label. I want them to be able to wear their outfit while going to work, running errands, hanging out with friends, etc. all without having to change clothes 3 or 4 times a day. Being a woman is hard already. We don’t want to have to go through the hassle of changing outfits 3 times a day just to be comfortable, why not be comfortable all day and maybe only change your shoes. Style doesn’t have to be uncomfortable.

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

The fabric I chose for the SY Jogger is made out of the Repreve® fiber. Repreve® is one of the most certified, earth-friendly fibers available in the world. These high-quality recycled polyester knits are made from plastic bottles and post-consumer materials. If there was a way I could have a USA fabric supplier AND it be sustainable I knew I was making something special.

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

It’s incredibly sad. If someone is purchasing a top for $2.50, how much is the person making that made the shirt? I get that everyone is on a budget, but why buy something that cheap and then it lasts you a couple of months to a year and then it ends up in a landfill? Not only is that person not making a fair wage making the garment, but it goes to waste in a matter of months. Why not buy something that is more expensive that will last you longer and it likely not end up in a landfill. One thing we’d like to do in the coming months and years is to tell our customers we’ll gladly take back the things they’re tired of keeping in their closet that they have bought from us and we’ll give them credit back to purchase a new item. I will resell that item in a heartbeat or give back to a local women’s shelter. There are so many ways to keep clothing out of landfills and my goal is to help bring that awareness to people and our customers.

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

1. Know your “why” — What differentiates your brand from others. How is your brand different from any other brand that’s selling similar stuff. Telling customers your story and the meaning behind your brand will go a long way.
2. Research — Read articles, and books, listen to podcasts and explore the internet. I researched fabrics, how other brands got started, manufacturers, trending colors, trending styles, etc. I researched as much as I could before I started anything. I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing before starting it.
3. Ability to network — Get involved on social media. Join community Facebook groups of people doing the same thing. Bounce ideas off each other. Two brains are better than one. Get involved in the local community. Do social media giveaways with other small businesses — again work together because, in the end, we’re all in this together. Making connections is huge. It only takes that one person to potentially make your business or brand skyrocket.
4. Sense of Business — Knowing the business side of things is huge. It’s the “not so fun stuff” but it is important. Start with a business plan. Who is your target audience? What is your target retail price? Are you making a profit in the end?
5. Passion and Drive in the business — It’s not easy being in the fashion world, especially when there are SO many well known big brands out there. It takes time to build and create a fashion brand from the ground up and it’s expensive, but if you have the drive and passion for it then it’s worth it all in the end.

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

Take action in knowing who and where your clothing is made. Stop using manufacturers that are using child labor to make clothing just because it’s cheaper. Stop creating “new arrivals” every single week. Fast fashion has got to stop. It’s only creating more problems. Instead, come up with ways you can give back or take back clothing that customers don’t want anymore. If you take it back, resell it or give back to a shelter. We have to work together as an industry to keep clothing out of landfills as best as we can.

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

Women feel comfortable and confident in what they’re wearing throughout their day. If a woman is comfortable then they’re confident. We need to break the stigma around fashion being uncomfortable. The way that the fashion industry is evolving is that comfort and style are two things that can and should go together. As we have especially seen through the pandemic and the shift in working from home, you don’t need to be wearing jeans or a suit to work. Comfortable, stylish clothing is where it’s heading and we are thrilled to be at the forefront of that movement.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

You can visit our website at www.sythelabel.com or follow us on social media @SY_TheLabel

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

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

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

You’re a good parent if you have children who thrive. And all children thrive when they have parents who believe in them and help them learn to believe in themselves. Your children will thrive if they learn to pursue their true passions, and if they have your support for their success in those passions — even if they weren’t things you were excited about.

As a part of my series about “How extremely busy executives make time to be great parents” I had the pleasure to interview Margot Machol Bisnow.

Margot Machol Bisnow is a writer, wife, and mom from Washington, DC who speaks on raising fearless, creative, entrepreneurial kids who are filled with joy and purpose. She is the author of Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams — 99 Stories From Families Who Did. Margot has a BA in English and an MBA, both from Northwestern, and spent 20 years in government, including as an FTC Commissioner and staff director of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. Both her kids are now grown: Austin started a popular band, Magic Giant; Elliott founded Summit, a noted international conference series for Millennial entrepreneurs and creatives, and led the purchase and development of Powder Mountain ski resort in Utah as a permanent home for the Summit community. Her husband Mark was a late-blooming entrepreneur, and wishes his parents had read her book when he was growing up, so he might have started his company before he was 50. Margot is on the Board of Capital Partners for Education that mentors low-income DC-area high school kids.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us your “childhood backstory”?

I spent the last couple years working on my book, Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams — 99 Stories From Families Who Did. It’s packed full of stories of how parents raised children who not only are successful, but who are creative, confident, resilient, and fearless. And, even more important, happy. I want parents everywhere to read this book to help their kids dream big dreams. It’s definitely not what I would have expected I’d be doing when I grew up! I was an English major in college, worked for a few years in the anti-poverty program, and then got an MBA and moved to Washington DC for what I thought would be a couple years. But I spent the next 20 years in and around government, mostly in international economic policy.

Can you share the story about what brought you to this specific point in your career?

My older son had started Summit — conferences of young entrepreneurs. He’s just published a wonderful book about it for anyone who is interested: Make No Small Plans. I met all these extraordinary young people and asked them what gives them the courage to take on so much risk and work so fearlessly on their project? To my surprise, they all essentially said the same thing: “My mom believed in me; she told me I could succeed at anything I put my mind to.” I was really amazed by this and decided to look into it. That’s what led to writing this book.

Can you tell us a bit more about what your day to day schedule looks like?

I’m totally focused on my book, and have been for the last couple of years. Plus, I try to walk at least an hour each day.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the core of our discussion. This is probably intuitive to many, but it would be beneficial to spell it out. Based on your experience or research, can you flesh out why not spending time with your children can be detrimental to their development?

I actually disagree with the premise of this question. I don’t believe there is a direct correlation between the amount of time you spend with your children and how good a job you’re doing as a parent.

On the flip side, can you give a few reasons or examples about why it is so important to make time to spend with your children?

I believe there is nothing more important in the world than your relationship with your children, and your family. But I don’t want busy parents to think that won’t be possible for them. My boys are both in their early 30s now, and we still talk almost every day and see each other constantly, even though we don’t live in the same cities. Knowing that your family believes in you and is there for you whenever you need them is the most important thing to give a child a sense of confidence. But it’s not the time you spend; it’s how you spend the time you have.

According to this study cited in the Washington Post, the quality of time spent with children is more important than the quantity of time. Can you give a 3–5 stories or examples from your own life about what you do to spend quality time with your children?

When our boys were growing up, we always ate a family dinner together every night. Someone asked me once what time we ate, and I said, “When the last person walks in the door.” It was something the kids knew was important to me and it created a bond. Everyone has to eat. Sometimes it was 6:00 PM if everyone got home early. Sometimes it was 9:00 PM if we waited for my son to finish play practice. But we always ate dinner together.

We spent so much time supporting our kids at their chosen passions. When our kids were in high school, we all went to our younger son’s concerts and plays; we spent every vacation for three years going to our older son’s tennis tournaments around the country.When my sons were in college, I used to go once a month to visit for a weekend. I was lucky, they both played D1 sports, so I always had an excuse to visit. My younger son also did a lot with music, so there was always a concert he was singing or playing in, or a performance he was in — any excuse to go and not be a weird parent. I can’t imagine letting months go by in between seeing my kids.

We also traveled extensively together. I wanted them to get to know different places and I hoped it would make the kids aware that there were other cultures and other ways of doing things. It turned out that it had a more important and unexpected dimension: It strengthened us as a family, because we were alone together, creating shared experiences. I can’t recommend family travel enough. I cherish the memories of the four of us together, creating a bond I hope will last forever. And because we took incredible family vacations when they were young, they’re still willing to go with us today. Now we go with them and their wives. The patterns you set when they’re younger will be what will continue when they’re older. So if family vacations were a big part of their life growing up, you’ll be lucky and will be included in family vacations even when they have their own family.

We all live in a world with many deadlines and incessant demands for our time and attention. That inevitably makes us feel rushed and we may feel that we can’t spare the time to be “fully present” with our children. Can you share with our readers 5 strategies about how we can create more space in our lives in order to give our children more quality attention? Please include examples or stories for each, if you can.

I can’t stress enough the importance of family dinners. No phones allowed! Just be there with each other. Share stories from the day. Tell me something good that happened to you. Tell me something bad that happened to you. It’s so important to have that bond.

I often think that parents don’t enjoy the time they spend doing necessary things, like driving a child to and from school, or to or from a sports practice or a lesson — they view that time as a chore. But if you view it as a special time, you will appreciate those hours. When my oldest son started playing regional tennis tournaments, I complained to a friend with an older child who I knew had spent a lot of time driving to travel soccer. I said, “Ugh, I have to take him to all these out-of-town tournaments!” And he looked at me and said, “Cherish the moments. They will be among the best times you ever have with your son.” It completely changed my perspective.

Just be present. Put your phone away. I often see families “having dinner together” in a restaurant — and the kids are on their phones. When you’re together, be together. It’s as simple as that. It’s not the hours. It’s being there for them when they need you, and really being with them when you’re together.

How do you define a “good parent”? Can you give an example or story?

You’re a good parent if you have children who thrive. And all children thrive when they have parents who believe in them and help them learn to believe in themselves. Your children will thrive if they learn to pursue their true passions, and if they have your support for their success in those passions — even if they weren’t things you were excited about.

You’re a good parent if you teach your kids to find new ways to solve all problems, to see opportunity where others see the status quo, to work with single minded determination to achieve a goal, to take on risk if the project is worth trying, and to learn that building something wonderful is its own reward regardless of how much money they make.

You’re a good parent if you don’t punish them for failure. Let them see failure as feedback and setbacks as learning experiences. Let them know that failure is how they will learn, that setbacks are part of the road to success.

And you’re a good parent if you let them dream big dreams.

How do you inspire your child to “dream big”? Can you give an example or story?

My book has 99 stories of parents who believed in their children, who showed their child that they had wholehearted trust in their capacity. All the parents I interviewed for my book said, “We love you, we trust you, we believe in you, we support you in whatever you want to do; we love that you have found your passion and we encourage you to pursue it; we know you’ll do great things; we will always be here for you; and don’t worry if you make mistakes, because you’ll learn from them, and anyhow they’re just bumps on the road to your success. We’re excited to follow you on your journey. We can’t wait to see everything you’re going to accomplish.”

How do you, a person who masterfully straddles the worlds of career and family, define “success”?

Success is not defined by money. Success is defined by being happy and fulfilled.

What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a better parent? Can you explain why you like them?

I really hope that everyone who reads this will buy my book, Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams — 99 Stories From Families Who Did. It gives parents 10 rules on what to do to be a wonderful parent and raise happy, successful children: support a passion, let your child learn to win and lose, don’t worry about straight A’s, encourage them to have a mentor, instill confidence, embrace adversity, nurture compassion, be a great family, show them there’s something bigger than themselves, and lead by following.

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

I think the most important thing people can do is ask themselves, “What’s the worst thing that can happen? And can I live with that?” The answer is usually, “Yes, that actually wouldn’t be so bad, it’s an acceptable outcome.” And then try it — or let your child try it.

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 want parents to believe in their children. Everyone says to me, “Don’t be silly, all parents love their children and believe in their children.” But that’s actually not true. They love their children, they want them to be happy and successful, but they don’t let their child follow their passion because they don’t think they will be able to be successful in life if they do that. I want all parents to let their children find their passion and then nurture it and support it however they can. Tell your child how proud you are of their success in the thing that they love. Don’t let them think that pursuing it with all their heart is too risky. Let them know that you believe in them and support them and will always be there for them. Let them know you’re there for them. It has nothing to do with the hours in the day. It’s how you spend the time with them that you have.

Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!

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Author Margot Machol Bisnow On How Extremely Busy Leaders Make Time To Be Great Parents was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Modern Fashion: Dan Cassidy of Brandhopper Digital On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

At the end of the day it comes down to creating a plan specific to the brand while accounting for budget, testing performance along the way, and making intelligent changes based on what the data is showing.

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

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

As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Dan Cassidy.

Dan Cassidy is a digital marketer specializing in growing e-commerce brands on Shopify. Dan has led media buying and optimization teams that drive results for businesses ranging from Fortune 500 companies to start-up e-commerce sellers. Dan is the CEO and Founder of Brandhopper Digital, an e-commerce growth agency helping brands launch and grow on Shopify.

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?

I’ve always been interested in creative branding, storytelling and consumer psychology, along with analytics, so digital marketing has been a natural fit. I began working in digital marketing and advertising in NYC in 2004 and since then have been able to work with some incredible companies, from Fortune 500 businesses to small e-commerce brands.

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

I hung out with William Hung — American Idol star — at an online advertising conference in the late 2000’s. That was pretty fun.

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?

1. Consistency. Showing up every day and moving my business, along with my client’s businesses, forward.
2. Beginner mindset. Digital marketing is a fast paced industry with change happening constantly, so it’s critical to learn, adapt and apply new technologies and strategies.
3. Empathy + care. It’s a bit cliche but I really care about my team, my clients and their business. I show up every day with the goal of helping everyone around me be better than we were the day before.

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

We work with our clients to grow their revenue and profit any way we can, and that can involve doing shipping analysis to help reduce cost for our clients, connecting e-commerce brand owners with 3PL’s to improve their operations, or providing management and leadership advice. If we can help a client solve a problem, no matter what that is, we aim to help.

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

“Don’t worry, just train.”

I train martial arts and this quote references that when you run into an obstacle, no matter what it is, you should put your effort back into your training. The same idea can be applied to work — just focusing on the process and daily improvement can lead to an incredible career, just like martial arts training can lead to so many benefits in life.

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

There’s two emerging areas of fashion that I’m excited about. First, leveraging VR/AR to allow consumers to get a better sense of style and fit before purchasing online is a big opportunity for fashion brands and retailers, because the more info we can share with consumers before purchase, the more likely we are to reduce returns.

Second, digital fashion and NFT’s within a VR environment can allow brands to extend their designs beyond their current physical footprint, while allowing designers to expand their creativity beyond current limitations.

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

The results we get for our e-commerce brands has a real impact on the livelihood of our clients, so our team feels great when we break past any revenue targets or goals our clients had before working with us. We also love design and improving the digital world by enhancing the aesthetic look and feel of an e-commerce store.

At the end of the day, our team knows that the work we do boosts the economy and brings joy to consumers when we match them with a great product.

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

When we advise fashion retailers, it’s specifically from the viewpoint of increasing their online revenue.

Growing e-commerce sales efficiently often requires a combination of strategies and approaches that can be determined by starting with the goals of the business and understanding where the target customer is. Selling t-shirts to teenagers? TikTok can be a great place to drive awareness and sales. Selling luxury home decor products to women in their 30’s and 40’s? Organic Pinterest content and influencer marketing could be the way to go.

Most online retailers will want a well designed e-commerce store that speaks to what the brand is about, and does a great job of converting visitors to buyers. Marketing automation should also be part of the foundation, whether that’s email marketing, SMS, or some combination of both.

At the end of the day it comes down to creating a plan specific to the brand while accounting for budget, testing performance along the way, and making intelligent changes based on what the data is showing.

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

More sustainable materials, sourced and supplied locally can cut down on some of the waste the industry creates. 3D printing is also an exciting area that’s evolving rapidly and could lead to better-fit fashion for consumers along with expanded reach for designers.

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

We should create subsidies and programs for people who want to adopt shelter dogs…I’ve seen time and time again how dogs have the power to change a person’s life.

That, and free beer and donuts for everyone on Sundays, because, why not???

How can our readers further follow your work online?

E-commerce businesses can apply to work with our team at Brand-hopper.com, or can connect directly with me here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassidydan/

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

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

Female Founders: Jennifer Lindsey of Inspired Wraps On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Founders have powerful personalities. I’m not entirely sure what this means but I would not describe myself like this. I am straightforward and no-nonsense but I am also an introvert. I have to take an hour in the morning to meditate and remove myself from the world. There is nothing I like more than doing something creative while watching TV. I am what you would call a “homebody.”

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

Jennifer Lindsey, the founder of Inspired Wraps, was born with creativity running through her fingertips. At 10 years of age, her grandmother taught her how to wrap gifts, and while she has loved doing so since, little did she know she would make a career out of it!

Lindsey wanted to pursue Fine Arts in school but, wanting to make a more stable income, she shifted her focus to another type of creativity through food — the culinary arts. After attending culinary school, she worked as a chef for 14 years in the fast-paced kitchens of Pappasito’s, Paesano’s, and Whole Foods but due to health issues that made it impossible to continue, she had to pivot again.

After Christmas one year, she noticed she had an abundance of ribbon, paper, and various gift wrapping supplies. Lindsey realized if she did not let them go, they would overtake her space. So, she began to sell what she could on Etsy where she found there was quite a market for specialty supplies. With her love of wrapping and putting together gift baskets, it was a natural and seamless transition to turning her hobby into a business.

Over 2,200 sales with five-star reviews later, Inspired Wraps has since evolved into gifts as well as gift wrapping supplies. You will find a unique curation of nature-inspired gift wrapping supplies as well as thoughtfully-designed gift baskets meant for anyone who wants to think outside the generic department store box. Out of her home located in San Antonio, Texas, Lindsey also wraps gifts for customers.

When she’s not busy wrapping, Lindsey continues to explore various mediums that pique her interest and inspire her. Whether that be playing guitar, printing black-and-white film photography, knitting, crocheting, sewing, or crafting projects for her young daughter, Lindsey is constantly keeping her hands busy. She also has another business called Microphonic where she upcycles vintage microphones and repurposes them into functional works of art. Between it all, she still manages to dedicate an hour to meditation each morning to help her stay grounded and focused.

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 fell into Inspired Wraps after being unable to continue my culinary career. I worked as a chef for 14 years but due to health issues had to pivot. I have always loved wrapping gifts and putting together gift baskets and it seemed like a natural transition. The success of a meal depends heavily on presentation much like the success of a gift.

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

The continual growth is fascinating to me. I can’t believe my fortune in stumbling into something that is being well received. I am so grateful.

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

When we started to systematize the inventory we created a spreadsheet to tell us how many months we had on hand for every item. I found I have one item with 15 years of inventory! My ordering process has become much more conservative after that.

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

I was, and still am, a novice at running a business. About a year ago, I felt the need to contact SCORE to find a mentor. I’ve had my mentor, Steve, for over a year now. He turned my hobby into a business. He has given me a wealth of knowledge and continues to teach me. I will forever be grateful.

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?

In general, there’s a stigma for women who are not primarily focused on home and family. That’s not to say that focusing on your family is not a noble pursuit but a woman shouldn’t be faulted for choosing a focus outside of that either.

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?

How do you change ingrained mindsets? I suppose honest dialogue and adopting true feminist principles of equality. It seems each generation comes a little closer. Ultimately, it comes down to individuals taking responsibility for their growth and a willingness to listen.

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?

Why not? Many women have the willingness, tenacity, and passion.

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

Honestly, I had to Google myths about founders, but I did find these.

1. Founders are risk-takers. I have not taken any uncalculated or unnecessary risks. Most of my actions are carefully considered.
2. Founders act alone. This could not be further from the truth for me. Even if I had wanted to act alone I could not have done so. I have a mentor, employees, a handyman, a PR firm, and the list goes on. I’m sure it will grow, too. It is a team effort. There is no way I could’ve done this alone.
3. Founders have powerful personalities. I’m not entirely sure what this means but I would not describe myself like this. I am straightforward and no-nonsense but I am also an introvert. I have to take an hour in the morning to meditate and remove myself from the world. There is nothing I like more than doing something creative while watching TV. I am what you would call a “homebody.”

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

I don’t know if you can generalize anything being right for everyone. I think anything is right for you if you want it and don’t allow anything to stop you.

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. There will be a lot of paperwork and dealing with numbers.

2. You will not have as much time to be creative.

3. You will have to deal with a lot of people.

4. You will have to learn how to sell yourself and your vision.

5. This will be so fulfilling.

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

Not there yet! But hopefully, one day, my work will inspire someone.

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

I’d love to see hunger eradicated. Children going hungry is a crime and so unnecessary. I would love to change that.

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 should say someone like Martha Stewart since she is the queen of creativity. However, I think it would be Ellen DeGeneres or Bill Burr. I love to laugh.

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

Thank you, so much, for the opportunity and exposure.

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

Female Founders: Jamie O’Banion of BeautyBio On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Assume the good. With so much written communique in today’s work environment, it can be a challenge to read tone. I’ve always lived under and asked our team to picture a smile on the face of whomever wrote communication they read as they are digesting it. Truly changes everything when assume the good and remember that typically everyone has the same goal and trying to accomplish that objective. We all have bad hair days, especially when under stress or on deadline for something, and while we should always seek to be the best version of ourselves, I think dosing out a little extra grace to everyone is always a good idea.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jamie O’Banion.

Jamie O’Banion is Founder and CEO of BeautyBio, a clean, clinical skincare brand sold globally at retailers such as Sephora, Ulta, Nordstrom and Harrods. BeautyBio has received Allure’s coveted Best of Beauty award, CEW’s Best New Beauty Tool, Cosmopolitan Beauty Award, Town & Country magazine award for prestige beauty and a New Beauty Award. Highlighted by Forbes as one of four female entrepreneurs to watch, Jamie has also been featured in The New York Times, Time magazine, The Robb Report, InStyle magazine and Town & Country.

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’m a total nerd at heart and have always loved science. My father is a physician and owner in one of the top labs in the US and I grew up with prototype products and ingredients literally filling the shelves of our refrigerator. I was recruited to start modeling as a teenager and ended up with a very unique lense working with some of the top makeup artists and skincare gurus in the country — almost a simultaneous behind the microscope and in front of the camera upbringing — a unique full circle perspective to say the least. On the R&D side of the business, I had the disappointing experience of working on new raw materials that I saw used in only fairy dust amounts by top brands we worked with. I personally felt this was wrong and committed to develop an edited, clean, performance brand consumers could count on from someone who literally grew up in the industry.

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

This is a hard one! Too many to count. The most interesting was probably the most intense. I remember being in Europe for our launch in Germany and getting off a conference call around 1 AM (time change in Europe allows you to work two full biz days — which is super-efficient but also demands long days) and jumping off the call because I needed to leave for the airport at 4 AM for a launch event for Harrods in the UK. I was turning off the lights and accidentally left the door ajar to the powder bath and walked right into the corner of the door. I instantly knew I had split my brow open and would need sutures. I spoke not a word of German, needed to find someone skilled enough to help properly suture (preferably a plastic surgeon), get dressed one-handed to hold pressure on the bleeding and hold myself together! Lol! Lots of angels watching out for me because I was able to make it to the only hospital with a plastic surgeon on call (ended up in a taxi with a driver who spoke zero English and it was literally his first day of being a driver — another story for another time) and he did a beautiful job. I changed my pickup location from the hotel to the hospital and made my 4 AM call time and the flight to London. Upon landing, I swept my hair to the side with a deep part, took some Tylenol and made it to the launch event, which was gratefully a success. Everyone should have a personal power statement — mine is Make It Happen. There will always be more reasons why something can’t get done than why it can be accomplished. Takes the same amount of energy to focus on solutions than problems, so create a mental path forward, focus and make it happen.

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

I remember the first time I went on live national television on HSN years ago and had ZERO idea what I was doing. If you’ve ever seen the movie Joy, you’ll know the moment I’m talking about. The lights come on, there isn’t a script or a teleprompter and all you see is the live sales counter at 0 units. All I could think to myself was “Please to the heavens, let my mother, my best friend — someone tune in right now!” I took a deep breath and literally pretended the camera was one of my friends and just started sharing what I love and know. All of a sudden, the counter starts to double then triple and within our first 12 minutes on air we are completely sold out. I was speechless, beyond grateful and to this day I do not watch/study other people on air, prepare a script. I’ve found in every scenario, if you just speak from the heart the rest will follow.

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 dad! I watched him work crazy hours and never settle for less than the best of himself. He taught me that I could do hard things and I developed my love of science from him. I remember traveling with my father over to one of his partner labs in Germany and in Singapore as a teenager (and he kindly let me attend meetings with him) and observing which skincare concerns seemed to be universal and those that were more unique to a particular market. These years of “spongehood” have served invaluable to me as we have rapidly expanded into international markets. Life leaves you breadcrumbs that in the moment feel like isolated, disconnected fragments, but in hindsight it’s clear how each prepare and weave together into an incredibly beautiful tapestry. I believe everyone has a unique purpose and I’m grateful to get to fulfill what I believe is mine.

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?

It’s an important question to ask. I remember standing on stage as the only woman in a group of male recipients when I received the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award and having the exact same thought. Is it a function of fewer females seeking funding or simply they are not viewed as comparably “investable” as their male counterparts? I’ve spent some time diving into the numbers and recently shared my POV on a female-focused panel at SxSW. I’m convinced the reason for the delta begins at the investor level. Here is the reality.

Only 12% of decision makers at VC firms are women and most firms don’t have a single female partner. Concurrently women are twice as likely to invest in female-led businesses. If we are to see additional funding flow to females, the data tells us we need more female leadership at a senior level in the venture and private equity investing worlds. Only 2.3% of VC funding went to female-led businesses in 2020 down from 2.8%, which was sadly an all-time high. Startups with a female founder fill their staff with 2.5X more women. Our team at BeautyBio is 90% female, including on our executive leadership team. We can do better; we must do better.

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?

Seeing is believing. Believing begets action and action brings change. Female mentorship has never been more important to help aspiring founders to see a clear path forward and believe they can also achieve success. We need more female-founded funds and male-founded funds with female leadership to actively pursue ESG initiatives with clear allocation dedicated to female-founded businesses. Pitch meetings are taking more seriously when established investment criteria in place and ultimately forces change.

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?

Absolutely. Here’s the reality. The minds of women and men are 99% the same, but the 1% difference between them explains why women make such powerful leaders. Studies show that a female’s frontal cortex, responsible for problem solving, is larger than in a man. Meanwhile, a male’s amygdala, which regulates the ‘flight or fight’ reaction, is bigger. The prefrontal cortex (or the CEO of the brain) makes decisions and inhibits rash behavior, which may be why women tend to have a longer fuse than men. The frontal cortex is fatter and more complex in women and some neuroscientists believe women are hard-wired to be better decision makers and problem solvers. As such, women are quite literally anatomically designed to be superior leaders. Men make phenomenal leaders as well and I genuinely feel the best leadership contains all points of view, but it makes a case for women to feel empowered and know that they have everything they need within them to become a powerful founder if she so chooses.

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

That it’s all glamourous! We see the glossy parts of the business — the awards, the big moments, the highlight reel — but rarely do you see the 14-hr workdays, changing into evening gowns in random Starbucks bathrooms, airplane after airplane, dealing with hurricanes that damage inventory on the water, supply chain, team building successes and failures, on and on. The grit and commitment required is daunting and I would bet most any founder would say if had been laid out in front of them -fully raw- most humans would be reticent to sign up. However, growth never happens without discomfort and growing BeautyBio has been one of the most challenging, humbling yet rewarding experiences I’ve ever had the opportunity to experience. Just because someone has a big title does not mean they only get to do the big jobs. I have pulled more all-nighters as a CEO than I ever did as a college student and spent the majority of several years on a plane, but I wouldn’t be who I am today without these experiences and I have the deepest of respect for others who are also building. There’s enough room for everyone in the sandbox and I firmly believe empowered women empower women.

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?

Excellent question. I think anyone is capable of doing anything they are passionate about, but I do think certain individuals contain traits that make it more naturally frictionless to succeed as a founder than others. The key attributes of a successful entrepreneur, in my experience, are 1) Resourcefulness (there will always be more reasons why something can’t be accomplished as per above than why it can be achieved) 2) Ability to pivot 3) Openness to feedback (founders can often be their own stumbling block if you aren’t willing to listen to altenative POVs — be it the board, your team or conusmers) 4) Grit (gotta be able to dig deep on the hard days and during the messy middle) 5) Optimism. As a founder you have to be wired to be eternally optimistic to allow your mind to explore the best path forward. There is always another door, window or crack to pivot towards.

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.)

This can probably be best summarized in a few of the golden rules we have established at BeautyBio as I wish I would have functioned under them in my early years — would have saved an enormous amount of stress and resource depletion.

1. Trust but verify. This is an old proverb that will serve you well 10/10 times. Takes far less energy on the front end to prevent a problem than play clean up in real time. No assumptions. (EG — Don’t assume the inventory shipped on time in good condition, set up an SOP to verify and then confirm. Things rarely go exactly as planned so put basic check points in place to mitigate fallout).
2. Assume the good. With so much written communique in today’s work environment, it can be a challenge to read tone. I’ve always lived under and asked our team to picture a smile on the face of whomever wrote communication they read as they are digesting it. Truly changes everything when assume the good and remember that typically everyone has the same goal and trying to accomplish that objective. We all have bad hair days, especially when under stress or on deadline for something, and while we should always seek to be the best version of ourselves, I think dosing out a little extra grace to everyone is always a good idea.
3. Begin with the end in mind. I always tell the team — We’re all on a metaphorical bus and there are only two choices — you’re driving it or it’s driving you. Plan, consider the outcome and then roadmap accordingly. In my experience things don’t just magically work themselves out or come together without intentional, deliberate choices.
4. Think three chess moves ahead. Decision making is far simpler w
5. Deliver net impact. Decision making is far simpler (and faster) when one delivers the overall net impact when communicating versus partial nuggets. For example, instead of saying to a team member, “Hey can you please ship out these units to retailer XYZ this week,” I would recommend saying, “Hi! Hoping we can prioritize getting these units out or we will absorb a $2mm liability and miss our quarter.” Totally different message yet same action request. Providing context is EVERYTHING!

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

Emblazoned above the glass board in our team meeting room are three words that embody our brand’s philosophy “Truth in Beauty”. Every decision we make should go back to delivering truth in the very cloudy beauty space to our Glommunity. At our core, our goal is educating and empower our community to seek truth and then live their own for a healthy, happy life.

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.

Great question! As a mother of daughters (and a fantastic son), I hope that I can help every young female dreamer know that anything is possible. You get 0% of the chances you don’t take. What’s the worst thing that can happen? Someone says no? You pick yourself up and try again. I hope that we can create a movement of unity, community and encouragement among women. I don’t know why there is a tendency to not share, to compete or to judge particularly among women. Think how many women that could have contributed in incredible ways don’t because they feel minimized by other women around them. Let’s celebrate each other, come together and lift! All tides rise. Attended the Women Work F-ing Hard event in NY last week and that is the entire ethos. Love organization like that.

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.

Probably Reese Witherspoon. I’ve been really impressed with how she seems to live at the cross section of creativity, business and philanthropy. Love how she empowers and inspires other women and would be an interesting convo to sit down for a cup of sweet tea together. We’re both southern gals for sure.

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

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

Megan Thudium of MTC | The Content Agency: How to Use LinkedIn To Dramatically Improve Your Business

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

… I would say is to engage in the community. The easiest thing you can do on LinkedIn is just to get onto the platform and start leaving authentic and original comments, building connections with people, connecting with new people within a niche.

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

Megan Thudium is an American marketer working in Berlin, founder of MTC | The Content Agency. As a branding, content, and LinkedIn B2B marketing specialist, Megan works primarily with innovative tech brands in Germany and throughout Europe. These are startups and corporations focused on scaling their operations and offering their sustainable solutions into the native-English North American market.

Her agency infuses cutting-edge LinkedIn social selling and brand management strategy, content marketing, SEO, and thought-leadership best practices to drive awareness, credibility, and leads through a human-focused lens.

She’s an expert on all things B2B content marketing and building people-first business relationships on trending social networks like LinkedIn. Her strategic marketing insight has been featured in publications like Under30CEO, ClickZ, Advertising Week, European Business Magazine, Forbes, Business.com, Upwork.com, and Managers.org.uk.

You can find Megan on LinkedIn actively sharing insights and networking with technologists and B2B leaders. With her agency and clients, Megan is looking to make meaningful connections in today’s digital-first, socially-connected world.

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

I’m currently the CEO of MTC, a B2B content marketing agency in Berlin focused on sustainability and cleantech startups. I originally moved to Berlin because I wanted the experience of living in a different country. And I also wanted the business experience of owning an international company and working with people from other countries and other cultures.

I was involved in the startup community and technology developments, I like to know what’s happening in this space. Berlin naturally was a very comfortable fit for that, and I have been here for five years now. I don’t see myself leaving.

I’m really happy that we’re building our business here because MTC works with environmental companies. That’s our core passion project at the moment. And business community for the climate action space here in Berlin is ever-growing and really exciting. There are many innovative projects going on. We’re really happy to be part of and supporting that, and helping businesses get known in the market.

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

I live in a foreign country and I have an international company — so there are always interesting stories to talk about! At the moment, I have a lot of great experiences working with different cultures. That alone is a collection of really interesting and intriguing moments. At MTC, we work with people from Germany, Spain, the US, the UK, Poland, Austria… Working with people from different cultures and hearing the differences between what they want and how they approach a project — even to the point of how much small talk are you allowed to have at the beginning of a marketing meeting! The most interesting story in my career and building my company is not necessarily a marketing-related one, but it’s how to work with people from different cultures and the fun tid-bits that come with that cultural exchange.

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 first started my career in marketing at a nonprofit, a performing arts centre. I was 21 and very naive. I wanted to learn everything, and I was very ambitious. It’s not really a funny story, I just thought I was *the shit*… But that came with so many learning points: to listen to mentors, really listen to them and not think that you know everything. They have more experience, absorb that into your own career.

And don’t be in a rush to be the expert at everything. I mean, at the beginning of your career, it’s always a learning experience and a growing experience. You’re trying a lot of different things and seeing and feeling what you’re most passionate and excited about. And for me right now, of course, that’s content marketing and everything we do at MTC. I thought I knew what I wanted to do when I first started. Because I loved it, I thought nothing was ever going to change. But welcome to life! Things are always changing. And what we’re doing at MTC now is even cooler. Always look for opportunities to change, change is a good thing.

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

LinkedIn is the best social media platform for B2B businesses — 100%. It’s also helpful for people who want to grow their career, build connections and networks, find new job opportunities, etc. It’s an outstanding platform because it does very well organically. Other platforms are kind of tightening in and you have to basically pay to play. LinkedIn has really opened up and their business model allows anybody to really take advantage of the organic algorithm to get known and get out there. It has helped me with my personal brand. I’ve made lots of great connections on LinkedIn, with other female founders and marketing agencies worldwide. It’s also a platform to connect people and to build relationships with others.

Can you share 5 ways to leverage LinkedIn to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

So the first step on how to leverage LinkedIn is to optimise your profile. That is always the first thing. The profile is basically your storefront to your business and to your personal brand, whichever one is the end goal on LinkedIn. It’s everything: from making sure you have the correct settings so your profile is searchable and easy to find, to the content that you publish.

The second step, I would say is to engage in the community. The easiest thing you can do on LinkedIn is just to get onto the platform and start leaving authentic and original comments, building connections with people, connecting with new people within a niche.

Number three is consistency. I think when people go into LinkedIn, they have all this ambition and excitement, but then they realise that it actually takes work. That is essentially hard work to build up your personal brand, to maintain a presence — especially if you don’t have the time. This is why you reach out to an agency like MTC and have someone help you do it.

Spend something like 30 minutes on the platform every single morning, drinking your coffee, engaging, leaving comments, making sure that your posting is consistent throughout the week. People always ask me how many times they should be posting, and I say consistency is better than quantity. Post once a week and be consistent with that. Make sure you can be consistent and show up for your audience, be trustworthy.

Number four would be messaging. Because as we know, the way that you make sales and business connections is through conversation, engaging, and connecting with people. And a great way to do that naturally is through messaging. I think a lot of people on LinkedIn don’t use messaging correctly. They use it as a sales tool, they make a hard pitch from the beginning. Think about messaging as you would in a community or a networking event, you first connect with them. You do a little bit of chit chat, ask them how they are, hey, it was great to connect with you. But just personalise the conversation. It’s not just a business transaction. Good conversations lead to business opportunities.

Number five, I’d say quality content. I love content. Quality content is an important piece of the puzzle to dramatically improve your business presence on LinkedIn. You should be posting quality content that is unique and individual to you but also supports either product or service that you’re selling, or this piece of thought leadership that you want to become known for. So at MTC, we always create our content and LinkedIn strategy around three pillars, and one of those pillars is always a personality pillar. I mean, it’s a social media platform, people want to make connections with people and build up those relationships. So you need to show some sort of human side of your content.

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

If I could inspire a movement, I would inspire climate action. Bring more awareness towards the importance of climate action, and climate change, that they are a big deal. And I think most people are aware of it, but I’d like to inspire even the littlest action or behavior change: flying less, or eating more plant-based products. These little pieces of education, trying to inspire people to be a little bit more sustainably-minded and focused. And also to communicate to people that it’s a journey — a lot of times, people think they have to be perfect. You don’t have to be perfect to enact change!

Is there a person in the world or the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why?

I would love to have lunch with Michelle Obama. I really love Michelle Obama. She is a really strong woman and individual, very smart and clever. And she also did things for herself in her career even before she meant Barack. To me, she is the one who is really into hard work and getting things done. If you put the hard work in, you’ll get there and I really much admire that about her. Michelle was the one who kept the family together. How many women can do their thing — her think: bring more awareness to topics like health, food, obesity, and family — and keep the family together, and be in the public eye? She has a really great career and also kept her family together, travelled around the world… That takes a really special somebody, so I would love to have breakfast with her.

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

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Megan Thudium of MTC | The Content Agency: How to Use LinkedIn To Dramatically Improve Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.