Our guest, Pascale Diaine, a partner at Storm Ventures, is passionate about and committed to investing in female founders of early-stage B2B enterprises. Her investment thesis focuses on sales and marketing automation, AI/ML, IoT, retail tech, AR, computer vision, and robotics applied to the enterprise space. Before joining Storm, Pascale founded Orange Fab, the corporate accelerator of the European Telco Orange, and managed cohorts including Talkdesk (today worth $3B), Wonolo, Rallyteam (acquir...
Sep 23, 2022•59 min
Anyone’s life can change in a split second from a catastrophic accident, stroke or other tragic event. Our guest, Mark Raymond Jr., Founder of the Split Second Foundation, had his life change in a split second when he broke his neck after diving into shallow water while boating with friends in 2016. The accident resulted in him becoming a C-5 quadriplegic. During Mark’s immediate recovery from his injury--inpatient and outpatient therapy--he learned that there are extreme gaps in the recovery pr...
Sep 20, 2022•1 hr 8 min
Continuous improvement is key for founders. However, most founders level up their game during a “trial by fire” moment, versus a nicely planned professional growth program. Our guest, Eric Siu, is an investor, founder, and advisor to companies, and he’s on a mission to empower folks to level up their game – professionally and personally. As the founder of digital marketing agency Single Grain, Eric has worked with companies such as Amazon, Uber, and Salesforce. He has invested in startups Eight ...
Sep 16, 2022•53 min
When our guest, Lydia Simmons, Founder and CEO of M.O.O., was unable to obtain the level of Ob/Gyn support required during postpartum, she turned to her knowledge of food as a foundational and core means of health into a 1OO% Vegan, Superfood Postnatal with 7 ingredients that supports women from Day 1 of Postpartum and up to 2 years of Breastfeeding and into Lifestyle Wellness. Lydia sought the advice of chemists, physiologists, and nutritional scientists to bring her product to market. Her goal...
Sep 13, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Our guest, Cyndi Bray, didn’t expect she would become an entrepreneur when she bought a new washer/dryer set, but that is exactly what happened. While her new dryer claimed to have an excellent Energy Star rating, she found that her bed sheets were constantly swirling into giant wads, increasing the amount of time she had to run the dryer and wasting energy in the process. With zero experience, Cyndi took on the task of finding a solution: teaching herself physics, CAD drawings, creating prototy...
Sep 09, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Women’s health tech founders are faced with an uncertain landscape of laws and regulations, especially since the recent overturning of Roe vs. Wade in the US. Our guest, Bethany Corbin is an experienced healthcare and femtech attorney. She believes the international femtech community has the collective power to transform the standard of care for women’s health. As a member of this industry, Bethany’s goal is to spread awareness of femtech, disseminate meaningful insights that allow new founders ...
Sep 06, 2022•1 hr
In today’s venture capital industry, we see a lot of what I call mirrotocracy, not meritocracy. Our guest and her team saw an opportunity to create an Institutional fund that empowers emerging and often diverse VC fund managers. Courtney McCrea is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Recast Capital, where they believe that emerging managers of venture funds, particularly those with diverse partnerships, represent both an underserved market and overlooked business opportunity. The Recast Team i...
Aug 30, 2022•1 hr 2 min
It was not a US baby formula shortage that led a mother of four to develop a plant-based milk for babies and toddlers. Three years ago, our guest, April Kelly, was battling postpartum depression and struggling to breast-feed her newborn. Traditional formula seemed like the only solution for Kelly and her husband, but it ended up causing more problems for their baby girl, including intestinal gas and skin reactions. Desperate for a satisfied baby and a few nights of sleep led Kelly to wonder what...
Aug 26, 2022•1 hr 7 min
Sarah Scala had been out to friends and family for years, but it wasn’t until recently that she let her clients know she is a member of the LGBTQ+ community. A dynamic consultant, coach, and educator, Sarah Scala provides LGBTQ+ Leadership coaching, organization and leadership development, executive coaching, change management, public speaking facilitation, and team development solutions. Through her consulting practice, Sarah developed a reputation for providing sustainable results for her clie...
Aug 23, 2022•1 hr
Karolina Attspodina is a passionate supporter of sustainable green innovations that help fight climate crises and pollution. A Ukrainian-born serial entrepreneur with over 12 years of experience in the Tech industry, Karolina joined Qian Qin in 2021 and co-founded WeDoSolar. An EU-based greentech startup that offers smart balcony solar solutions Europe-wide, WeDoSolar enables users to lower their dependence on grid energy while reducing their CO2 footprint by up to 600kg and saving up to 25% of ...
Aug 19, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Did you know vehicles are the only non-disease, top-ten causes of death worldwide? Our guest, Rashid Galadanci, is CEO and Co-Founder of Driver Technologies, an AI-based mobility tech company that delivers a safer driving experience. He was inspired to start Driver Technologies to share the benefits of advanced vehicle technologies without barriers to access and improve safety for everyone. The app transforms a driver's phone into a dash cam designed to improve road safety and make mobility tech...
Aug 16, 2022•1 hr 1 min
What is the difference between growing and scaling a business, and why does it matter? Our guest, Sarah Dusek, is intimately familiar with scaling a startup. In 2009, Sarah Co-Founded Under Canvas, a premier Glamping Company with Glamping resorts outside of National Parks across the US & Canada. The business was sold in 2017 for over $100 million, providing the opportunity for Sarah to launch a purpose driven fund. Today Sarah is the Co-Founder and Managing General Partner of Enygma Ventures...
Aug 12, 2022•1 hr 4 min
What can a founder do if their startup is considered not fundable or bankable? Kedma Ough, MBA is dubbed the Small Business Superhero. A nationally recognized business development and business funding expert, she loves breaking down the barriers to big capital for small businesses! As one of today’s most respected authorities on Small Business Funding, Kedma has advised more than 10,000 businesses leveraging $100 million in funding access. For two decades, Kedma worked in SBA leadership roles wi...
Aug 09, 2022•1 hr 4 min
How do you recruit top talent when you’re a startup? Our guest, Mandy Edmund, is known among the VCs in the Bay Area as having an uncanny ability to define the go-to-market leadership needs of an early-stage company. She loves working with early hiring teams, providing clarity on what is needed in a role, and helping Founders with their pitch to top talent. A seasoned founder with a successful exit, Mandy is currently the COO for SwingSearch, a recruiting agency for startups and high-growth comp...
Aug 05, 2022•57 min
Making history is Santia Deck’s superpower! A Social Media Influencer with over 800,000 loyal and engaged followers, a published author, fitness model, TV personality, Public Speaker, and a former track and field collegiate athlete, Santia made history by being offered the highest paid contract in women’s football history. Most recently, Santia added Successful Startup Founder and CEO to her long list of wins with the launch of TRONUS, where she made history a second time by becoming the first f...
Aug 02, 2022•59 min
Our guest, Lauren Salz, is passionate about using financial and technological innovation to improve the lives of American homeowners. She’s the co-founder and CEO of Sealed, a home wellness company on a mission to make homes healthy, comfortable, and clean for the planet. Sealed designs, manages, and finances home weatherization and electrification projects, making it easy and affordable for people to be more comfortable while using less energy. Under Lauren’s leadership, Sealed grew 350% from ’...
Jul 29, 2022•1 hr 3 min
How can a nonprofit raise more from the right funders without obnoxiously hounding them? As a former Executive Director for a $3 million nonprofit she grew from $300k, our guest, Mallory Erickson, deeply understands the nonprofit funding hustle. Which is why she solved that problem and has helped thousands of nonprofit leaders love their fundraising process! Mallory is an executive coach, fundraising consultant, and host of the podcast What the Fundraising, aimed at supporting nonprofit leaders ...
Jul 26, 2022•1 hr 3 min
When you fund women, you’ll save the world! Catherine Gray is leveling the playing field for female founders through her multi-media platform, She Angel Investors. A Speaker, Producer, Author, Founder and Host of the Invest in Her podcast, Catherine focuses her extraordinary energy on empowering female entrepreneurs by providing resources and connections to help accelerate the funding process. Her popular ecourse, 6 Ways to Fund Your Business, is designed to inform and educate female founders so...
Jul 22, 2022•54 min
Eli Angote has spent the last decade running TheBestNotary and fulfilling over 60,000 successful notary appointments while building a network of top performing notaries around the country. With a strong background in sales, computer science and a paralegal, Eli was uniquely positioned to launch TheBestNotary, which began as a Bay Area based side hustle. With its extensive experience and proven track record, TheBestNotary goes beyond notarization and logistics to providing document quality review...
Jul 15, 2022•1 hr 13 min
Inspired by the story of Black Wall Street, Ikechi Nwabuisi launched a social moneypooling platform to help the African Diaspora build wealth within their own communities. A former VC, wealth manager and ex-NFL player, Ikechi has over 5 years’ experience building social apps and has been focused on Blockchain since 2015. In 2018, he founded TRiBL (Techstars ‘19), an all-in-one social moneypooling platform building a bridge between Web3 and the culture, and providing a social wallet that allows c...
Jul 12, 2022•59 min
“I know how to win, and I will win.” Our guest, Luis Mendonca, has the BEST mindset for the founder journey! In 2017 he launched Elite Home Fitness Franchise, an in-home and luxury residential personal training franchise. That’s right, they come to YOU! Luis didn’t set out to be a founder. After overcoming major life challenges, he was inspired by the birth of his daughter to BE more and bring more of his potential to the world. He dove deep into personal and professional growth, and when he saw...
Jul 05, 2022•1 hr 1 min
Startup Life is a wild ride, especially if you’re a Female Founder. Our guest, Cheryl Contee, has been using her entrepreneurial and leadership skills since pre-school! In 2008 she founded her first startup, Do Big Things (formerly called Fission Strategy) a mission-driven digital agency using social technology to create social change around the world. She grew the company from 2 people to 10 in its first year with millions in revenue. Cheryl was also the co-founder of Attentive.ly, the first te...
Jun 28, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Being viewed as a “minority” can be exhausting and frustrating, especially when you’re up against a trifecta of bias. Our guest, the Fierce Female Founder Kerry Schrader, was not going to let the triple plied bounty of bias stop her from reaching her dreams as a successful founder. In 2015 Kerry teamed up with her daughter, Ashlee Ammons, and they founded Mixtroz, a tech startup that helps meeting attendees easily mix, meet and mingle with one another; all while helping the event organizer learn...
Jun 24, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Twitter is the best and easiest platform for Startup Founders to build their social capital - with each other and with investors! Yes Founders – your customers are on Instagram and LinkedIn – that’s where you want your startup's brand to be and where you want to be amplifying the brand and connecting with customers. But Twitter is where you’re going to meet fellow founders, find the peer support you need and amplify your founder brand. Grab my Andelicious Advice for leveraging Twitter to: * buil...
Jun 22, 2022•7 min
Did you know knitting sparks creativity and provides mindful rhythmic motions resulting in a more positive state of wellbeing? Our guest, Kristen Lambert, is the creative visionary behind the knitwear brand Third Piece. Third Piece started as a passion project for Kristen after being drawn to the uniqueness of a hand knit scarf with which she immediately responded, “I need that!” What started as a side hustle soon transitioned to something more when the buyers of Henri Bendel and Bergdorf Goodma...
Jun 17, 2022•1 hr 3 min
As a teenager our guest, Seattle native Billy Price, suffered a spinal cord injury and became paralyzed from the chest down, losing the ability to move his fingers. Daily tasks became difficult. Using his creative mind and unyielding spirit, Billy never gave up. He persevered, facing life's challenges with tenacity and determination. A specific problem Billy had was finding a pair of shoes that he could put on independently and actually be happy and proud to wear. So, as many founders do, he sol...
Jun 14, 2022•1 hr
As a 30-year champion for Black businesses, our guest, Jill Johnson, is a pioneering voice for inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems and is creating a new paradigm for the access to capital conversation. Jill is the co-founder and CEO of the Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL), based in Newark, NJ. IFEL, founded in 2002, is an independent, nonprofit organization that supports economic development through entrepreneurship. IFEL’s mission is to eradicate the systemic barriers that preve...
Jun 10, 2022•1 hr 11 min
Building a real estate tech platform without a tech background didn't stop our guest from succeeding as a tech founder! Hassan Riggs is the founder of Y Combinator startup Smart Alto, a National Association of Realtors® Second Century Ventures REACH company, that prequalifies leads and schedules appointments to help Realtors® get an ROI on their lead generation program. As a former ISA, a current Forbes real estate contributor, and a digital marketer who has sold more than $100 million dollars i...
Jun 07, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Almost 50 years after the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, which ended women needing a male co-signer on loans and credit cards, women are still facing discrimination from financial institutions. Our guest, Lacy Garcia, is the Founder and CEO of Willow, a woman-led, financial technology and guidance platform that empowers women and the underrepresented with education, coaching, and support through every life journey. Willow's mission is to pioneer the standard of financial care provided to ...
Jun 03, 2022•55 min
There are verified stories of LGBTQ+ members who have been ignored and singled out by potential investors because of their gender identity. Our guest, Ben Stokes, is on a mission to help create a world that's built on radical inclusivity, where diversity of knowledge and experience is celebrated. He’s the Founding Partner of Chasing Rainbows, an early-stage investment fund focused on investing in founders who come from underrepresented backgrounds - particularly those from the LGBTQ+ community. ...
Jun 01, 2022•1 hr 4 min
